The Delicate Illusion of Freedom
by shortlived
Summary: Earth under the unmerciful dominion of the Decepticons, Alexis' struggle for survival will be tried by captivity, deception and help from unlikely sources. But survival won't be enough. Not when the planet's greatest disaster has yet to transpire.
1. Gift

Thundercracker was not paying attention to what he was saying.

That realization was what had Starscream turning toward his wingmate, finding the blue Seeker focused elsewhere. He followed Thundercracker's line of vision and found what arrested TC's attention. He was observing some of the newly captured slaves who were huddled in the corner. No, Thundercracker shifting his gaze as one of them moved, he saw it was actually one of the creatures in particular.

That was even more unusual. For while his brother in arms did not object to his acquiring the human slaves, he was the only one who refused to get involved in their attainment and utilization of them.

Starscream found a grin flowing smoothly onto his features. An idea formed.

"Barricade," he said, shifting on his throne chair. The black-and-white Con came forward. He bowed low enough but did not placate himself as much as he would have if the Air Commander had been Megatron. This time Starscream ignored the hunter's subtle challenge. Starscream knew why the scout had been sent. He would have been a fool if he didn't. Megatron didn't send his favorite hunter just because he believed Starscream needed more ground support.

"Bring me that slave." A digit bent as he pointed to the human he spoke of. The creatures should have already been processed. If he wasn't distracted by his sudden purpose, someone would have paid the penalty.

Soon enough, the organic was brought before them, tossed not so lightly on the ground below. Starscream waved the hunter away. He did not miss the way Thundercracker's shoulder panels jerked while his suspicion filled optics changed course before landing on Starscream.

"What is with this?" Skywarp asked from beside him. Stepping down from where he had been standing beside Starscream, he peered at the human bundle below.

"It is Thundercracker's new slave," Starscream informed him of the obvious. A rather nefarious delight came when he noticed TC's growing discomfort. The impassive Thundercracker _could_ be riled when one knew how. Starscream never got bored with trying.

The purple Seeker shifted on his pediforms, glancing at the two before he backed up and sat down on the steps leading up to the throne chairs. Skywarp perked up, watching the exchange between his wingmates with much interest, his head darting back and forth as the two traded words.

"I did not ask for one. I do _not_ want it," TC said, his vocals low, obviously not wanting any of the other Cons to overhear.

"You shall have it, Thundercracker. It is a _gift_. You would not _refuse_ me, would you?" There was a challenge in his words. Starscream's expectation built. Even with his trinemate there was a limit to his tolerance.

"I wouldn't know what to do with it," TC groused. He no longer looked at the organic as if it was an offense in itself. A diversionary tactic that did not discourage Starscream in the least but only strengthened his resolve.

"Use it. Break it. Toss it around. I don't care. They are easily replaceable." The Supreme Air Commander lifted an optic ridge, swiping his hand forward and down. "Go ahead. Take it," he eagerly encouraged.

For a nano-click or two, Starscream believed TC was going to refuse. However, he knew he won when after he was shot a rather blazing look, the blue Seeker went toward the creature, picking it up as he exited the throne room.

Starscream felt a victory of sorts. Thundercracker taking a slave was the first true sign that his brother was acclimating. Earth fallen, they still needed to keep the inhabitants in line. And it was encouraging to see that TC was finally willing to participate.

* * *

Earth wasn't much different from some of the other planets the Decepticons conquered. Perhaps a little brighter, lots more water, humidity and always changing weather, and even more indigenous beings than usual: the humans.

Thundercracker's introduction to humanity had been when Megatron brought the world leaders together, executing them for everyone to see. Red liquid burst forth as it readily drained from the creatures' laser holed bodies, the humans slumping, rolling and dropping down. Screams and yells followed from the astonished crowd before they too brought down the wrath of Megatron. It was a messy occasion all around.

Two months was all it took until Earth was under Megatron's large digit. The planet split up into sections as some of his subordinates were given a section to rule. Starscream, of course, made sure he got the biggest chunk of all. Wasting no time, he built a base and settled himself commander over more than before.

And Starscream, Thundercracker knew, got pleasure out of tormenting the humans and rounding up many as he forced them to do his bidding. Some, he sent to mines, the unwanted to camps and a few randomly chosen as personal slaves.

Thundercracker, however, held no interest for the humans. The fact that they allowed themselves to be conquered showed of their lack of intelligence and ingenuity. He most certainly did not want to be served by the inferior fleshbags. Not that that stopped any of the other Cons.

Skywarp said they were privileged to be slaves. Most of the humans left alive were scattered across the planet, fighting among themselves for survival. But taken in by them, they were sheltered and fed and given the noble purpose of serving the Decepticons.

* * *

He had already been stationed on the planet for a year. Yet still, Thundercracker was avidly waiting for the order to depart. However, there he was once again. Starscream was sitting on his overly ostentatious throne, TC leaning against the far wall, his wingmate boasting of all they had accomplished and what they were about to do. Thundercracker found himself drifting. He had heard it all before. Eradicate this. Dominate that. Acquire more. Build up their strength. The undertone of it all, for the ones who really knew the Air Commander and could decipher between the lines was the conclusion of it all: the downfall of Megatron. A goal that Starscream exceeded the obsession mark on some time ago.

A new batch of slaves was brought in. Thundercracker didn't usually take notice of such a routine event, but out of boredom, his optics slid toward the creatures.

The humans were acting as they always did, panicking and crying, some still and withdrawn, all frightened. His wandering gaze stopped when he found eyes latching onto his optics and holding firm, drawing his attention in even as he felt a level of outrage. It was the first time he had made optic contact with any of them. Not that there hadn't been a lack of opportunity but in truth, the humans were of little consequence.

Thundercracker waited for the creature to advert its gaze, to look away and falter. Few dared to look at a Decepticon head on. It was an unwritten rule. More than a few humans had lost their life due to the impudence. Straightening up and stretching to his full height, wings rising, he stood tall. TC knew that to them, he was quite an impressive sight and one to be feared.

Yes, there was fear in those tiny orbs of vision. He saw that clearly. However, the mutual contact was not broken. The eyes opened wide, bursting with other emotions that were universally identifiable: anger, contempt, rebellion.

That caught his attention. The creature seemed to realize what was it was conveying, fear building even as its head fell down, visual contact broken.

Thundercracker should have terminated it right then. Instead, he found his vision zooming back forward as he studied the creature more fully. It was huddled with the rest of its kind. Caged in by the vigilant slave trappers and obviously mindful of the dangerous weaponry that each of those Cons had and were prepared to use, should any of the humans be stupid enough to try anything. Arms wrapped in front of its body, back pushed tightly against the wall; it was so very still. When it shifted and stretched over an hour later was when he realized the thing was a female. When he first arrived on the planet, TC didn't know how to tell the things apart, let alone that there were different genders, but now it was easier.

Her clothes were a mess, shirt torn, patches of dried blood here and there that spoke of unseen injuries. She obviously fought against being captured. TC knew he shouldn't have kept watching her. Knew he had far more important things to do.

Listening to what Starscream was saying for one.

And then she looked up, found his optics, and once more they were staring at one another. It didn't last as long as the first time. As soon as their gazes collided, she pulled back and shifted her view elsewhere. Hunching toward her legs, she tried to make herself invisible.

The first time was perhaps inevitable. The second time she looked upon him was defying the odds. Again, the thought that he was supposed to kill the creature entered his processor. Another thought came that bypassed and erased the other.

Perhaps humans weren't such a cowardly lot after all.

Not even ten minutes later the creature was in Thundercracker's palm, a gift from Starscream.

TC was far from pleased.

* * *

Thundercracker dropped her off at the slave quarters, instructions given that she was to be cleaned up. She was returned an hour later, put down in front of him on his workstation. She was trembling, her head downcast. Damp brownish red hair curtained before her head, blocking her face.

"I am Thundercracker, Air Commander in the Decepticon forces. You now belong to me," he started, expecting something but the creature only flinched. She curled forward and tried to fold into her body.

"Human?"

TC's digit came forward and tapped her. A little more roughly than he intended for the creature went sprawling to the side. She quickly recovered. Pushing her legs back underneath her tiny body, her head remained bowed low.

"Am I to be your _slave_?" she finally spoke. The words were quiet, yet disturbed with bitter emotions.

"That or I can send you to the mines or one of the camps. It makes little difference."

At first, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Suddenly, she was laughing, a queer sounding eruption that ended as abruptly as it started. She inhaled sharply. The area underneath her head and hair colored with small droplets.

"Mines are death. Camps are death. Slavery is death. You are right. There is _no_ difference." Her tone of voice was soft, bitterness attached to it that she failed to hide.

Yet again, the creature stole his attention. He felt a sense of primal power fill his circuit relays. The domination over the unusual organic felt somehow satisfying. Thundercracker was starting to understand the appeal.

He already decided to keep the creature.

She started to unfold her body, head lifting upwards. For a nano-click, he thought she was going to risk looking at him once more. At the last moment, she diverted her attention to the side instead. She had obviously been properly informed of how her masters were to be treated. But it did allow Thundercracker to get a proper look at the human. Her flesh was ashen, frame small and rather insignificant under the uniform provided, and as all humanoid organics, she appeared to be equipped with nothing extremely striking or anything unique.

"Look at me, human," he ordered.

Begrudgingly, she did as she was told. And that was when he caught sight of her eyes. In the darkness of the throne room, he did not bother deciphering them any clearer. But he saw them with clarity now, a greenish hue of sorts that was currently void of readable emotions, hindered by liquid that pooled in their depths.

"You are leaking. You were to be checked for malfunctions before you were brought here," he voiced with agitation. Thundercracker leaned down and peered closer.

"I was," she cringed at his nearness, angling her head to the side and away from his penetrating optics. Scanners showed her life organ picking up its already steady pace, a rupture of thumping commencing that resounded through his audio receptors.

"I was, my _Lord_," he corrected.

She flinched, mouth tightening. "I was, my Lord," the girl repeated back slowly.

"Then why are you leaking?" Thundercracker asked of the creature. His optics swept over her form while searching for further irregularities.

"It is a natural occurrence for all humans... my Lord," she whispered, voice garbled. "I will try not to let it happen again." With that she resolutely wiped her eyes off with the back of her hand.

"Be sure that it does not. I have enough to contend with, without a human losing bio fluids in my quarters." He picked her up without warning and placed the creature below his pediforms and before the door. Swiping his hand before a sensory panel, it slid open. "Now, leave me. Do not return until I summon you." TC noticed the way she peered out into the hallway, even noticed the telltale signs of her body language.

"Escape is impossible. Death, however, is always an option," Thundercracker let her know.

By the slumping of her shoulders, the human understood him clearly. She stepped out of his chambers and turned toward the slave quarters. Her steps were slow yet steady. She didn't look back.


	2. Slave

Alexis was living in a state of perpetual shock. She was dizzy. Her head throbbed, and black spots were forming in front of her eyes. Stopping she leaned against the nearest wall. One breath was brought in then another. Forcing herself to focus her hands shook. But then her knees gave out as she fell awkwardly down on the floor.

She wasn't supposed to get captured. Get food. Come Back. That was all. Alexis and her brother had the Decepticons activities memorized. They knew when they moved and in what vicinity. They knew when they came back. They even knew and familiarized themselves with the different mechs. Knowing which ones were sharp, which ones were sloppy, and which so trigger happy that being captured would have been preferred.

Her brother told her something was off about the guy- the teenager that showed up near their safe place out of the blue. But he had been terrified, half starved, how could she not bring him back? What sort of a human being would she have been if she ignored another's suffering? Alexis would still with her brother Josh for one. They had been living in tents for almost a year. The siblings constantly moved around, never staying at one place for long and only taking what they could carry on their backs.

The world grew quiet; once busy streets now empty. Shopping centers, bleak and so very still, people a rarity. If it weren't for the chirping of birds and the buzzing of the locusts, Alexis would have believed Earth had been exterminated of all life.

Leave it to her to find the one that was working with the Decepticons.

As soon as they gave the teenager some food they separated. Giving him directions to what they believed was one of the few human dwellings left, they continued on their way. It wasn't even fifteen minutes later that the sound of the engines was heard.

Yes, they ran. Even throwing off their packs and heading through thick brush did not waylay their predators. Alexis forced them to separate, Josh disappearing behind some trees. Everything happened in a flash and a bang. Two minutes later Alexis was being thrown into the back of a van, the doors closing shut as she was taken away. Immediately, she got up, staring out the one window. She caught the sight of her brother peering behind a tree trunk. He was safe. He was free. And now he was all alone.

The muffled sounds of crying and whispering came into her ear canals. Turning she sat down, realizing then that others were there as well. They drove for some time, no one saying much of anything. The captured humans knew where they were headed, knew what was in store for them.

Death in one form or another.

* * *

"Are you lost?"

The voice broke through the fog. Alexis got to her feet. A woman was looking at her, a dark haired, thirty something year old, who she saw earlier in the slave barracks.

"In more ways than one," Alexis whispered.

"You should come with me. They have monitors everywhere and if they see you just standing there you could get in serious trouble." The woman smiled at her halfheartedly. The two walked forwards. "I'm Amanda, by the way. I saw you brought in earlier didn't I?"

Alexis nodded her head, informing Amanda of her own name.

"Thundercracker's?"

She narrowed her eyes, anger rising at the implication. Amanda didn't notice, continuing her voice was soft yet easy to listen to, "It's considered high praise indeed to be chosen by one of the Seekers. I did not know that the Air Commander was even interested in..." Amanda gave her a sidelong glance, mouth twisting. "Sorry, been here two months and still can't really say it."

"Slave," Alexis finished for her with repulsion. Their journey ended when the two reached the slave quarters. Amanda opened the door for them.

"Some warnings," Amanda said, taking hold of Alexis' arm as she guided her to some bunks in the back. "I am sure you weren't informed of much since you just arrived but..." Amanda sat down, patting the mat.

Looking around, Alexis took in the barracks, the double bunks and soft mattresses, the clean floors and the brightness of the room. One would have never known that it was run by slave masters. Every comfort seemed to be thought of. Alexis even heard some music playing somewhere nearby; the air cool and light around them. It had been so long since she felt the relief of an air conditioner, so long since she even sat down on a bed.

Immediately, she felt ill.

The bunk squeaked, and she heard the shuffling of feet. Suddenly, a cup of cold water was hovering before her face.

"Sip on this. You'll feel better in no time."

Alexis took the offered water. Amanda sat down nearby.

"It gets better if you can force yourself to forget about... about your life before... about... your family. Do you have any family?" Amanda inquired, an air of mourning in her tone.

Forget? She would never forget. Not ever. She felt extreme aversion toward the offered advice. What a sick state the world was in. What it made people do and say. Yet still her mouth opened words commencing.

"When the invasion occurred, my parents were off visiting my grandmother. I haven't heard from them except for one phone call before... before the Decepticons destroyed all communications. I also have an older brother Josh. He was with me when..." Alexis clamped her mouth shut, remembering the last time she spoke to another besides her brother. She wasn't about to trust that quickly again. And if she was going to hold on to anything it was that Josh was still out there and free.

"It's okay. You don't have to talk about it. I just know it helps sometimes. You feel better now?" Amanda asked, genuine concern in her voice.

Alexis rotated the glass between both hands. Turning it slowly, she looked up at Amanda. She had pleasant eyes, a soft hazel that went well with her dark complexion.

"Yeah, a little. Thanks."

"Good."

"You were trying to tell me something earlier?" Alexis asked.

Amanda frowned. "I would say it could wait but telling you could save you some of the grief I suffered through. Come here."

They got up, passing by the empty bunks, stepping into a narrow kitchen. Amanda pushed her back away, slowly peering out past the wall then waved her forward.

"There are a couple of people you are going to want to avoid. I should explain by saying that not everyone is averse to being here. Some even..." Amanda cringed, disgust evident. "Like it." She dipped her head forward. A couple of people were in the middle of the room, a cleared out section that appeared to be for recreation. "See that group of men over there?"

Alexis nodded her head.

"Those are Barricade's. You probably haven't met that 'con but be grateful. He's once sick bastard. He likes to beat his slaves. Has even killed some of them. Their life spans are not very long, and it makes them how should I put it? _Testy_."

For the next couple minutes, Amanda pointed to one group or another.

"And those over there are Starscream's," Amanda said, her voice turning into a dull whisper as if she didn't want to be overheard. "They are the _worst_ of them all. I don't know where he found that bunch but stay clear. See that woman?"

"Yeah... the tall blond?"

Amanda nodded her head. "That's Kimberly. She's Starscream's only female slave and for whatever reason the woman has gotten it into her head that he _prefers_ her if you know what I mean. Even if Starscream doesn't look at her, probably doesn't even know she exists," the woman said.

Alexis shivered, paling.

"Oh, sorry, honey. Not trying to scare you or anything," Amanda reassured. "As far as I know the Decepticons only see us as animals. So at least we don't have to worry about anything... sexual with them."

"I don't know if I am able to remember which ones are okay and which ones aren't."

"Don't worry, you'll learn quickly enough. And I'll teach you about what we are allowed to do and when," the woman assured yet again. "We are actually given more freedom than other humans on the base, probably because escape is impossible, and we are expected to serve our masters at any time."

"Has anyone ever tried to escape?" Alexis couldn't help but ask.

"Only every other week." Amanda shook her head. Head bowing forward. "I would try myself if... if I knew I had somewhere to go." She frowned, shaking her head, she chuckled darkly. "Well, how about we get you something to eat."

Alexis was led to a table. The woman was already busy opening a refrigerator that she saw was well packed. It just didn't seem right somehow.

"You never told me..."

Amanda turned around at the sound of Alexis' voice, her head tilting to the side as she looked at her, a knife in her hand with mayonnaise on it.

"Who I belong to?"

"Yeah. Sorry," Alexis apologized.

"Don't be. Let them think what they want, but we know otherwise don't we." Amanda sighed heavily. "Demolisher. He actually isn't that bad, but we can talk about that some other time." She went back to preparing the sandwich.

Alexis knew she should have told Amanda that she wasn't hungry, but it had been so long since she had seen let alone tasted mayo that the temptation was too much. Paranoia whispered of warnings about the unexpected kindness Amanda offered, caution making her sit up straighter in the chair. At this point, she could only trust in herself and God. She would not be so easily deceived again.

* * *

The second day after her arrival Alexis was initiated with an ankle band, a thick metal cuff that vibrated and burned. Alexis learned she had to move quickly when summoned. The only way the heat ended upon her leg was when she appeared, moving slowly a promise of increasing pain.

It only took a couple of days to figure out how everything worked. She saw what she referred to internally as her inmates come and go. At any hour, without any warning, everything was dropped as they sped away to serve their captors. Alexis always remained behind. So she familiarized herself with the routines and met some more people. Finding most weren't bad at all, just scared. And a little coaxing, a soft-spoken word or two did wonders. She found it all amazing. To be surrounded, to hear voices, it was a blessing.

Alexis was finally summoned after her first week to a game of all things. Something called telidaw which held a resemblance to poker, even if they didn't use cards, but holographic projections that seemed to correlate to metal slabs that the mechs kept before them on the table. Her duties were mundane. She pushed a cart around with what they called Energon. Alexis also wiped up spills and cleaned up after them, overly simply tasks that did little to distract Alexis' mind.

Thundercracker didn't speak to Alexis but spoke _over_ her. Transmitting his orders to her in such a demeaning manner that she actually felt offended. Until she figured out how to ignore it, settling in a faraway place in her mind, as she got through it.

After the second week Alexis realized she was the least used person there. She was only called when they were having a game. Which was fine with Alexis for in her mind the terror of the first day was still fresh.

During her ample free time she read, even wrote things, anything to stay away from the darkness in her head. But memories always found her at night: the vision of her family, the sound of their voices, the smell of her mother's banana bread that she made every Sunday morning. Tears would form, but Alexis would wipe them away with a vengeance, reining down her emotions, not willing to let them out. She had to remain steady. She would not lose herself in front of one of them again. They would not see what they were doing to her. They would not win. She still had her self-respect. Still had her thoughts and her God. Remembrances turned into fervent prayer, memorized verses droning through her head until she finally drifted off to sleep.

Yet being where she was and doing what she was doing wasn't really that bad. It was actually peaceful in a way, safe, even nice. When that thought went through her head, when the state of her obvious acclimation made itself clear, she did the only thing she could do.

Alexis rebelled.

Or as much as she could. Amanda found her sleeping under the lower bunk one morning, a pillow Alexis' only companion as she slept on the cold, hard floor underneath its frame. She would suffer. She would make herself uncomfortable. She would remind herself in any way that she could that this was not where she was supposed to be. Nor would she settle for it.

"Alexis, you up yet?"

Alexis shifted to the side, her cramped body surged with discomfort, a twinge sliding up her spine. She saw Amanda's face. Rolling over more, she scooted toward her friend, pulling herself free from the bottom of the bunk's frame. Amanda shook her head, eyebrows rising high. For once though she made no comment about Alexis' sleeping arrangements.

"What is it?" she asked. Peering up at Amanda as she rubbed her eyes free of sleep.

"Thought we could go for a run."

Running was another thing she did to pass the time, Amanda getting her started on it. Their laps were taken around and through the large barracks, usually in the morning. For the rest of the day Amanda was away serving Demolisher, along with her other fellow slaves. The barracks became a desolated place then. Alexis was left entirely alone on more than a few occasions for long stretches of time.

"Not up for it today."

Amanda lifted an eyebrow, pulling her long brown hair back into a ponytail. "Something else then? You want to talk this morning?"

"No."

"Did you sleep well last night?"

"No."

Amanda bit down on her tongue unwilling to breach that subject further. "What's wrong then?" she inquired with concern.

Alexis jerked up her shoulders in a pitch of anger. "Besides absolutely _everything_ around me? Nothing."

"You know we have it lucky. Do you know how many..."

"Stop, Amanda," Alexis said, pulling herself up, thumping down hard onto the mattress behind her. "I can't take that today." Her voice wavered and cracked.

"What is it, Alexis?"

Amanda leaned down, looking up. Matt, one of Barricade's, let them know that the showers were now available for the women. Alexis saw the way his gaze lingered on Amanda. Purposely, she caught his attention. She sent a potent glare his way that had him shuffling away with haste. Alexis wasn't in the mood for _that _either.

Alexis spoke as soon as the man left, "It's Josh's birthday today. I _actually _almost forgot. Do you know what we were going to do today? We both decided we would risk going back home. They stopped searching houses some time ago, and we were pretty sure it would be safe by now."

"It's still standing?"

"It was a couple of months ago. We used to pass by it here and there. Checking up on it, I guess. I mean it's just wood and brick and all that, but it holds a lot of memories, and it was where we grew up."

"How old is Josh?"

"20. Fifteen months older than I. He was a surprise to my parents, they were told they couldn't have children. But they refused to believe it, and after I was born well, we were both considered miracle children."

She had been so self-absorbed in her telling that it almost escaped her attention when Amanda turned around. The woman sat back against the lower bunk's frame, body heaving as sobs escaped.

"Amanda?"

Alexis got down on the floor with her, rubbing the woman's hand, patting her shoulder, whispering what encouragements she could find.

"I never told you this, Alexis, but I had a son, Jeremy. He was twelve. When..." she paused, gulping as she tried to calm herself. "When the Decepticons came, I was in the middle of a divorce. Jeremy was living with his father at the time in... in Washington."

Alexis shook her head, covering her mouth in horror. "No... I am so sorry. I..." she stopped. Nothing she said would have been good enough. Everyone knew that was the first place that was destroyed, but worse than that. After their leaders were executed publicly on what was to be the last television broadcast ever, Washington was decimated. Everything, everyone, anything living puffed out of existence. Ruble. Dust. Debris. A big gaping hole. That was all that was left of their nation's capital.

"I was trying to finish up my master's degree, and thought sending him away to Nick's for a couple of months would give him a chance to spend some quality time with his father. I never knew that..."

"Alexis!"

A sharp voice made her pull away from the conversation. Her friend shifted to the side, ducking her head.

Kimberly was holding onto one of the bed bunk rails, the other hand planted firmly on her tiny waist. "Lord Starscream has ordered me to bring you to him." She rolled her head to the side, mouth pinching into a tight line. "Come with me."

Alexis didn't care what tone the woman used with her. She wasn't moving. Every time she talked, Alexis had a vision of a spoiled cheerleader who never got past the maturity of an eighteen-year-old. Perhaps she had pigeonholed Kimberly, but the flawless beauty she managed to maintain and the subtle antagonism kept that impression mostly intact. She wanted to believe the woman wasn't as bad as all that. The two did share a halfway pleasant conversion not long after her arrival. But it was if she had several sides to her personality, and at the moment it was a hostile one.

"Go, Alexis. I'll be fine," Amanda whispered, motioning with her hand that it was all right to leave. "We can talk later."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, _go_. Please."

She picked herself off the floor and made her way to Kimberly. The woman huffed impatiently as Alexis started to follow.

"I don't know why my master has called you. There is nothing you can do that I wouldn't have better knowledge of." Alexis found herself grabbed against the shoulder, forced to stop as Kimberly looked her over. Bright brown eyes darted across her form the aggression dissipating slowly.

"Hmph," the blond ejected, a half smile building as if she discovered something. Confidant, Kimberly strode forward once more. "Do not speak to my master without him speaking to you first," Kim warned, her voice now agreeable and at ease as she told Alexis what to prepare for.

For some reason, it was then that it caught up with her where she was heading and to whom. Alexis fought the silly urge to comb out her tangled hair. Looking down she found she was at least wearing shoes. Trepidation found its way into her suddenly heavy legs. Fear whispered her name. Taking a deep breath, saying a quick prayer, she continued on her way to Starscream.


	3. More

Only three Earth months had gone by since he was given the human as a slave. And while, for the most part, everything passed uneventful, it did lead to some rather disturbing circumstances that Thundercracker was at odds at how to process and handle.

"What is your designation?" Hearing himself ask, jolted his system. To even want to know was a warning that he probably shouldn't have ignored. Of course, there was also that he was accustomed to and no longer minded the human femme being around him that was an early alert all on its own.

The girl was polishing some of his tools, one of the odd jobs he had found for her to do. The two alone for a rather lengthy time was not unusual anymore. But the silence Thundercracker interrupted himself was an unorthodox occasion. The human stopped what she was doing for a moment before resuming as if she didn't hear.

"Your name, human. What is your name?" Impatience was evidently marked in his vocals. The Air Commander was unaccustomed to being ignored.

Again, she stopped. Head lifting, then dropping, a soft breath was released. "Does it truly matter?" she replied, there was anger in her tone that had probably been simmering for some time. Their conversations were few. She had a long while to hold the emotion in.

"No. But I tire of calling you human or fleshbag or..."

"_Slave_?" she interrupted.

"You may look at me while we converse," he permitted. His inflection softened in tone.

"No need. I have nothing to say to you. And I am sure, my Lord, you have far more important things to do." Her tone was low yet subtly aggressive, a hostility beneath her words that she didn't seem to realize she broadcasted until it was through.

He watched her stiffen, and his sensors marked that her heart picked up its pace. TC shifted to get a better view. Her head lowered as she stood on the worktable below, eyes directed forward the human stared.

"Alexis, my name is Alexis," she said. Face lifting, she slowly but cautiously glanced up.

"Alexis," Thundercracker repeated. His optics roamed over her as he tried to merge the name with the femme below him. "That is an _unusual _designation."

Her eyebrows scrunched at that, and for the first time since he acquired the human her mouth curled upwards as she smiled.

The human wasted no time in her reply, "So is Thundercracker."

* * *

Starscream was bored. And boredom for him was not a good thing nor for anyone around him. Once more, he was playing a game of telidaw, once more he had downed more than a few high grades as yet again the conversation became redundant. An idea sprang that came from his off and on observation of humans.

Words flowed out of him, his vocals dull and heavy with languidness. "Have you seen what humans do to pleasure one another?"

There wasn't much of an answer, but as many of his conversations could go it wasn't necessary.

"You, human." Starscream pointed to Barricade's slave.

The male tensed with fear from being spoken to by someone of his obviously ranking stature. The boy stepped forward, bowing low on his knees. He was steadier than Starscream would have expected. But obviously the human had been worked over rather adequately by Barricade, which in all likelihoods gave him a different perspective on fear than most. The Seeker supposed he could appreciate that even as he indirectly saw it as a challenge.

The Air Commander searched for the precise word. Just when he was about to give up, and start making a motion with his hands, the word blasted into his processor, a devious smile building on his angular refined continence.

"Kiss that human." Starscream gesticulated to his slave, a creature whom even then he didn't bother to really glance at.

The male jumped up to his feet, rushing toward the female as he pounced on her. Mouths connected in a disjointed fashion then parted quickly.

"Again," Starscream commanded.

Snickering and laughter began around the game table. Skywarp burst forth with enthusiastic jibing as the male commenced once more. He couldn't tell if they enjoyed it. And it didn't look like anything pleasurable, but appeared rather disgusting and somehow comical.

"Now that one," Barricade said, thrusting his telidaw pieces down on the table.

The game was postponed as the Decepticons had their fun. Starscream pushed the slave toward another female, the contact initiated once more. This time the female chosen lit up on the Seeker's thermal scanners, a spark of heat spreading through her body. The girl's hands wandered up the male's arms. Jerking, he pulled back, a look of disgust appearing on his features before he quickly washed it away with indifference.

"Now that one." Skywarp gestured to the last female slave who was sitting motionlessly between himself and TC.

The male turned around, his eyes finding the object of his next contact. It was the boy who heated up this time. He made his way to the female as he stood above her.

"Stand up," the human said, suddenly enjoying his delegated task.

The girl shook her head firmly.

"Use force, fleshbag," Barricade commanded of his slave, and the male did not need any urging from there.

The girl was forced up, the male holding her arms tight as he started the supposed pleasurable proceeding once more. It was the shortest out of them all. The male yelped out, a hand going to his mouth where small droplets off blood were escaping. With a speed he didn't know humans capable of the finale female bunched up her fist, smashing it against the male's nose.

"Don't touch me!" she shrieked as she backed up, her head shifting back and forth as if looking for cover. Finding none, the female sat back down where she had been. Head lowering, her hand moved forward as she wiped off her mouth.

There were roars of laughter this time, everyone finding amusement except for one.

Thundercracker.

He just sat there with his hands tight around a mug of high grade, optics seared onto the metal container. That is until Barricade moved, his digit tapping against TC's slave. Then Thundercracker's optics drifted sharply as he followed the line of movement. His digits unwrapped from the mug to flatten heavily upon the table.

"You've obtained quite a lively specimen, Thundercracker. What do you say you add the human to your last bet? I wouldn't mind winning it. She promises a couple of moments of interest," Barricade said, his tone lively with several depths of malevolent intent.

Right before his digit was to make contact with the female again, the blue Seeker came to life, swiping it aside as he pushed the organic back and out of the way.

"I believe _not_," Thundercracker replied, using a tone of voice that Starscream knew well. One that outwardly was devoid of all emotions even as there was danger simmering underneath.

"Favoring a human over a fellow Con?" Barricade asked, his attention now even more firmly placed on the object he coveted. "Oh, I see... you want a flat out payment. How many credits do you want for it?"

"More than you could possibly afford," TC said, a dangerous undertone marking his words that the Decepticon scout was little aware of.

"How much for just a cycle?" Barricade continued, an optic ridge rising as the two negotiating Decepticons locked optics.

"And have her come back to me broken after all the time it took me to train her? Break your own slaves. This one is _mine_."

"Fine, _keep_ the vermin," the hunter relented. "But when you're ready to dispose of it, let me. I always do enjoy a little sport before a termination."

Starscream observed Thundercracker, knowing that if Barricade kept hassling his fellow Seeker, that soon enough things would turn to violence. And while he was never against a good beat down that too seemed rather dull.

So he interrupted, his words bursting forth with an air of finality, "Enough of this slag. TC, Warp, you're with me. It's time for us to find some _real_ entertainment."

"What about us?" Demolisher piped up, grabbing his credits off the table he stood. "We like entertainment as much as the next Con."

"Return to your stations," Starscream ordered, "this outing is for Seekers only." He nodded toward Skywarp. His wingmate grinned wide, knowing exactly what was in store.

With a flash and a sudden feeling of displacement, they were whisked away from the dull base. The three transformed as the jets cut through the sky. Aerial entertainment commenced until they broke free of Earth's atmosphere. Skywarp warped them farther and farther away until running low on energy, they finished the rest of the trip on their own thrusters.

Landing on the planet, Rendarm, they followed familiar telemetry until soon enough they stood before a large building. Light glittered bright on its board, a name flashing above their heads that was blatantly obvious and openly broadcasting its function. Walking inside many an optic turned Starscream's way. The thrill and fear at his very presence spread through the atmosphere. Whispers and murmurings started, the establishment clearing of some of the weak-sparked as with all due haste and expected consideration, they were each led to their own private chamber.

Soon enough Starscream was joined by a saucer opticed femme, his greatness obviously widespread and awe inspiring. When he was through with her, she would be left praying to Primus, thanking him for his attention upon her unworthy self.

Sometimes a Seeker being bored could be a good thing. It just depended on one's perspective.

* * *

Thundercracker took her outside, as he allowed Alexis liberties. Never, not once, did he suspect that she would take the privilege given to her and use it as a means to escape.

Perhaps he should have never taken her from the vicinity of the base. Because then, she most certainly wouldn't have been able to get away. The Seeker's headquarters rested on the top of a large Cybertronian-made mountain, no human access whatsoever unless assisted. Yet he wanted to get away and wanted to take the human along.

It shouldn't have angered him so much at what she tried to do, and yet there it was burning beneath the surface. Thundercracker's calm manner throttled as emotional spillage commenced. Throwing a human into his placid existence turned everything upside down and sideways.

She made a good effort, even he would have had to agree on that point. But he still caught her quickly enough. Thrusting her inside his cockpit, he shot into the sky, a disturbance pushing his anger to an almost surreal state that his actions took over, processors becoming garbled with data. Until Alexis started to scream, fingers digging deep into the seat then straying over his console. She started to gasp and claw, eyes widening before they rolled backwards, eyelids lowering as her body stilled.

He killed her. TC was certain of it. The thumping of her heart pulled him away from that conclusion as he rapidly descended. Landing, he pulled the human out, placing her on the grassy mound beneath his pediforms. It was some time before Alexis stirred. Pulling her body upright, she breathed noisily, drawing the oxygen in as if a rare gift.

Thundercracker spoke, "You _ran_." His voice boomed. The femme flinched noticeably, small shoulders jerking at the words.

"Of course I ran," she wheezed out, her words gathering strength, "what did you expect?"

TC got down on the ground. So many things wanting to be said, but he was still far too irate to articulate anything definite. She was a glitch in his system that needed to be corrected.

"You should be grateful. I..."

"Grateful?" she dared to interrupt. A sharp huff pushed out of her before it died into a cough. But her weakened vocals did not stop Alexis from what she needed to say. "Of what? Destroying my world? Taking my family away from me? Killing so many that I knew and loved? I am not grateful!" the human female shrieked, eyes widening with blame and sorrow before welling with liquid. Hands lifting and curling into fists, she pounded the grass-covered ground beside her body, enunciated her emotion filled words.

His digit reacted as he pushed the human back and down. "No one takes advantage of me. Especially not an organic," he stated with subdued ferocity.

"You should have just finished it. Just killed me. Because I will never stop trying to get away." She squirmed under his digit, strange curves brushing firmly against it as she tried to shift away. And then she looked at him straight on and unwavering. Thundercracker found himself looking at her as well, no longer prohibiting himself from the action. Her hair had come loose from the restraint it was in, and now it was sprayed behind her head. Lifting his digit he saw she had holes and tears in her clothing. Shirt falling off her right shoulder, more flesh was revealed. Optics going back to the girl's face, they drifted to her mouth down her neck then back up to the force that was her eyes.

He should have paid more attention to what her eyes were saying, but something strange made itself known then. Why the human had become provocative to him out of all the distractions out there was no longer the issue. The point was that he wanted to touch her _again_.

So he did.

This time when his digit wandered down he paid attention to the way her body curved and flesh gave underneath the delicate pressure. She struggled, trying to kick him away, but his processor was still clouded until with a volume and sheer pitch he didn't expect, she screamed.

"Stop that!" Alexis dragged herself away, hands folding over her body, she paled dramatically.

Thundercracker said what came into his processor, an untruth forming so quickly as he tried to hide what he almost revealed, "I was just checking for injuries, human. And now we are leaving."

She wouldn't stop staring at him, distrust so apparent even as she seemed assured. "Not yet," she said, a plea beneath her words that perhaps should have appealed to him but only aggravated.

TC huffed at her impudence, "You try to escape. You almost forced me to terminate you, and now you have the audacity to command me? Did you forget who is the master here?"

She pulled her eyes away from the sky where her attention was, looking at Thundercracker and then beyond as she stared above him once more, bewitched by the very air beyond.

Thundercracker grabbed her, not allowing her the safety of the cockpit his thrusters activated. By the time they returned to base he would make sure that she was put out and equally warned. He was not to be trifled with.


	4. Uncertainties

It had been a terrifying moment when she had been called before Starscream. The Decepticon addressing her as he verbally punished Alexis for her supposed lack of attention upon Thundercracker. She almost laughed at that. Knowing full well that while the Decepticon in question believed that he owned her, he obviously wanted nothing to do with her if he could avoid it. And when Starscream threatened Alexis with her very life if she didn't serve the Decepticon better, she was sure that was the end.

Instead, Alexis found new tasks given to her by Thundercracker, little odd jobs that more than kept her busy as Thundercracker watched from a distance. He never said much to her and the gaps between when he actually did were so long that when he did speak she listened.

Why Thundercracker wanted to know her name that particular day or even spoke to her at all was an unsolved mystery. Why he actually, or at least from Alexis' point of view, protected her from the Barricade one during the last game of telidaw she was still analyzing.

Why he didn't kill her when she tried to escape though was the most dominant question of all. Alexis actually felt the life pouring out. Felt her lungs tighten as they fought for air. Felt the world grow cold as her thoughts took off in a wild rush of imagery and sensations, a light building behind her eyes as she ceased her struggling, surrendering as her body shut down.

And then she came to. Thundercracker hovered above, metal, patches and lines of blue dominating her view. She saw the hard edges of his feet; higher still, smooth surfaces melded under and met sharp panels. Cables and wiring were visible at certain angles, his hands with those fingers that suddenly looked so deadly long and pointed. Alexis' neck shifting even further, her eyes wandered over his vast cockpit. Only to be directed at the wings that were spread out for display behind him, a tension apparent in his dominating stance that was dangerous as it was threatening. It was the first time Alexis fully looked at him, especially with being so near. A part of Alexis was fascinated because just moments prior he was a jet, and she had been inside of him. The whole prospect of what he was and what he was capable of daunted.

But she only dwelled on that for mere seconds for they actually argued. So focused on just being alive Alexis was barely aware of him pinning her down the first time. The second time though, gone was the dreamlike world she had been in and the distant place she almost traveled to. So when he touched her again Alexis felt it with an awareness, she didn't know herself capable. His digit was everywhere and all around, pressing firmly and yet ghosting over. The way he looked was as terrifying as ever but now full of vulnerability and unvoiced questions. Terror grew, transcending into a pounding in her chest before trailing down her body with a surge of distinct pleasure.

Disturbed, she wrestled and destroyed the misplaced reaction, feeling betrayed by herself. Alexis knew enough that it meant absolutely nothing and everything to do with the fact that whether he meant to or not Thundercracker crossed a boundary no one ever had as his digit lingered on her body.

Confidant in the fact that it was just to do her own unfamiliarity, the fear and very present tension which made her head throb, Alexis dismissed it all. And then forced herself to forget about it. Finally, Thundercracker backed away as he made excuses. Alexis was taken back to the base. Wind crashed painfully against her exposed skin, fear turning to anger, turning to loathing.

And now, she was in a predicament that even as Alexis knew she was responsible for she despised with a passion. After their return, Alexis was forcibly confined in Thundercracker's quarters. No longer allowed to return to the other humans as she found herself sleeping, eating, and living with the Decepticon as she was forced to maintain and serve him at all times.

Perhaps it wouldn't have been so bad if he at least spoke to her. But since the act of her trying to regain freedom, he said less to Alexis than ever. As if her wanting to be free of her circumstances was some form of personal insult.

Alexis felt that spoke volumes of his arrogance even as she found yet another reason to dislike him.

* * *

"Wake up."

Shifting on her mat, Alexis moaned. Half awake she turned around, curling on her side, she tried to get back to sleep. But being picked up, tiny vibrations tickling up her spine, she found herself moving. The last of the sleepiness was cast out. Alexis was now entirely awake.

Eyelids splitting open she realized how quick they must have been going. Already Alexis found they were outside the base. Movement stopping, Thundercracker settled on the metallic ground, bringing her down on his right leg. Alexis stood there momentarily. Slightly in a daze she was overwhelmed by the scents. Comforted by the cool breeze, and humbled by the dark sky above that spread with a vastness, stars twinkling rhythmically as she found her mind dancing among them, a blissfulness of just being outside again that was near overwhelming.

How long ago had it been since she had tried to escape? Weeks. She had been shut inside Thundercracker's quarters for weeks no contact with anyone but him. His taciturn nature becoming less noticeable as she too lost herself in the silence. An occurrence that made Alexis start imagining things.

Like how she caught him staring at her sometimes. Or the way he would react when she accidentally touched him. Or for that matter, how he went out of his way so that she _didn't_ touch him. Instinctively, her mind whispered interpretations. Warnings of sorts that had her brain going back to the time he had blocked her down with his large finger. A supposed example of what the Decepticon wanted from her even as Alexis emphatically denied it.

And Angela did say they didn't see humans as such. With that and the overall manner in which he treated her, Alexis concluded that her imagination was running twisted and wild as it saw things that were just not there.

Still, she wished even now that despite the momentary freedom, she had been given unexpectedly, however, ultimately false yet reviving still she would have traded it just to be able to talk to her friend again. For she was full of questions that she desperately needed answers to. Alexis' mind shuttered and came back to itself when she found a touch upon her back.

"Sit," Thundercracker ordered.

Every time he commanded something of her, Alexis fought with her pride and self-respect before she was forced to give in. Thundercracker tapped behind her legs. Alexis fell forward on her knees only for his finger to appear in front, pushing her back into a lopsided sitting position. After that she felt winded, the action happening so quickly that the rush in her stomach had yet to settle. She shifted for her own sanity. Alexis needed to keep an eye on him, not comfortable at all with her back facing the Decepticon.

"Alexandra."

Her eyes widened at Thundercracker calling her that. Somehow feeling exposed, she shivered. His digit returned, wandering down her spine only to drift back up. The touch floated above her hair and then one of Alexis' legs which was pushed forward in the process.

"Look at me," he commanded.

She didn't even realize she had turned away from him but doing so halted his touch. Shaking, she managed to stand up. Bare feet finding needed traction she took of in a run along his leg toward his knee. Alexis expected to find the ground below them at the end only to meet nothing but the growing darkness of the very edge of the base. Alexis tried to stop, but to no avail as her body toppled over.

Alexis crashed into the void. Free falling, eyes stuck open, her stomach long lost as she kept going. Wind played and tugged around her body, hair whipping in and out of view. Once more, she looked into death's eyes. Yet this time she was aware of it. This time, everything slowed down as she was allowed to process it.

Regret filled her, sadness as well. A sorrow of loss of what would never be as she accepted what was to come. Alexis closed her eyes. She saw her family and her brother, somehow managing to group them all together as she felt herself embraced by them all and so very much loved. Time caught up with her once more; the momentum such that Alexis knew death would be instant and in mere moments. She said the quickest prayer of her life, forgave everyone that had ever wronged her and after that despite the odd placed peace of the inevitable she did everything in her power to try to will her body to stop.

For she wanted so desperately to live.

Only seconds had gone by since Alexis had fallen over, and seconds before it would be over. As if an intruder who invaded her mind fear caught up, a raw, desperate scream erupting as she reacted. Trees came into view, the idea of a painless death quickly quelled. Now Alexis knew she was to be beaten to a pulp first. Defensively she crossed her arms over her face. Blinded, she became lost within the rush in her stomach. Taking the last second, she prepared herself for the oncoming pain.

She felt it. Felt its embrace, felt her body slowing down fingers tight around her body the air calming as her ears cleared. Alexis heard an engine, her hands dropping from her face, she looked down. Thundercracker had saved her, the two hovering over the tree line just inches away that if she lengthened her legs the top would have brushed against the soles of her feet.

They were completely still now. And even over the roaring of his engines Alexis heard the distinct sound of her own heart, it echoing between her ears as tears leaked quietly out of her eyes. Alexis looked up, her eyes seeking his optics. There was no anger there, no bitterness, just an astonishment even she could pick up on the usually stoic mech.

When Alexis remembered what had brought her to where they now were, unbridled anger came to the surface. But denial was still firmly placed, her mind wanting to draw different conclusions.

"I am not some sort of Guinea pig to be experimented with and probed." Her voice was so dry, her tone so terribly low and throaty from the lack of use for several weeks, the fall, and the recent screaming.

"No, but you are my slave," he answered, as if that was the definitive answer to it all.

They landed yet still he held on. He placed Alexis on his left open palm, bringing her up and closer as Thundercracker commenced his study. The Decepticon's optics lit across her flesh, the bright orbs magnified by the surrounding dark pitch of the night.

Alexis' adrenaline was still coursing through her veins, the blood rushing acutely through her body. She felt an awareness of senses that came sharply into focus. The world was suddenly brighter, sounds louder; the very night air thick and heavy upon her flesh.

"And self-termination was _not _dictated," he suddenly finished out of nowhere, a rather curious expression on his angular curved face.

"I _wasn't_ trying to kill myself," she argued, such hostility in her words that she couldn't bring herself to care about. "I was trying to get away from _you_."

"Explain." He tilted his head. Thundercracker's gears wound tight as other mechanisms clicked softly.

"I believe that is for you to do," Alexis shot back with belligerence. She was aware of the danger her tone was putting her in and yet long away from the state to be able to stop it.

"Have you a mate?"

At that moment, Alexis' adrenaline left with a vengeance. A weakness moved up her legs that had her body pitching. She fell forward, moaning at the soft impact.

Thundercracker's words suddenly caught up.

Flushing, her hands pressed against him. The fingers on her right hand slipped easily between one of the gaps between his large fingers. Alexis' body trembled as her vision went in and out, darkness pressing into the light, lines shooting and curving only for the light to grow before once more fading away as the visual battle began again before her eyes.

By the time she could see clearly she was curled on her side, one of her hands folded firmly over the edge of his hand. Alexis tried to sit up, but dizziness came. Settling back down, she waited for her second near-death experience to play its course through her emotions and body. Or at least enough that she could handle things better without looking so utterly weak and helpless.

And then once more Alexis' head turned upwards. Her gaze landed on Thundercracker whose attention upon her was strikingly fixed.

"Why do you look at me like _that_?" she murmured more to herself than to him.

"I see something in you," he replied, his voice echoing outwards.

She flinched. Not believing he heard her. "What?" Alexis heard herself asking.

"_More,_" his answer was cryptic yet utterly revealing.

Alexis paled and without any further delay her mind let her know what he was really saying. Finally, she managed to sit up. Alexis wished desperately that she wasn't anywhere near him let alone touching him with her body. Her skin crawled as her throat clamped closed. With determination and a will, she was able to say more, "What you want isn't possible. What you..."

He interrupted, "It is. It can be."

With that comment, the rest of the blood rushed out of her face. Pain pierced her chest deeply as Alexis realized she approached the entire topic all wrong. To have even continued it was obviously an encouragement.

"No!" Alexis shouted, the anger returning as she used it. Shaking her head, she scooted back. Suddenly, she didn't care how far up she was or that if she went over she would probably be injured. She just couldn't deal with it anymore. Couldn't handle the whole scenario as she thought desperately of how to get out of the muck she had crashed into. "I won't allow it. Touch me again and I will..."

"What?" he challenged. His tone was controlled yet extremely brittle.

Alexis found her ability to speak impeded by his tone of voice. She fought for control over her own emotions. It wasn't anger that finally let her speak but a fear that terrified Alexis beyond most.

"Is that how you get your pleasure? By forcing yourself on another? I don't want you to touch me!"

Once more, the air rushed around. This time Alexis was thrust down on the ground as she fell back awkwardly. She landed in a bush, branches pushed harshly into her spine, leaves and some sort of nut cutting into the flesh of her palms.

"I don't force myself on any femme. Ever." His voice was gone of any hint of emotion, but his eyes burned. She was cascaded in his light in spite of the distance. "Not even a slave."

"Then..."

He cut her off, "Your refusal is noted. This conversation is terminated. We will _not_ speak of it again."

* * *

As a couple more weeks passed Alexis almost forgot about what had happened and about Thundercracker's revelation that frightened beyond all reason. For something unexpected happened. He started to treat her with civility. It wasn't much at first so it took Alexis a while to notice the change, but by the time she did Alexis was so accustomed to it that it barely registered.

Yet she knew she didn't hate him anymore.

Perhaps because along with the civility came conversations that surprised and oddly delighted her, as the gap between such an alien culture lessened as she found certain things out. She started to see Thundercracker in a different light. Identified that he had an honor code and morality though while twisted and dim _did_ exist. That gave her hope.

Thundercracker never touched her again. Not in the manner he had and as the incident drifted further in the past Alexis rather slowly got to know him. He was extremely complicated though. For when she thought she had something figured he would twist it back into the unknown. Or when she believed she understood him better he would do something that made Alexis remember that despite how he now treated her; she was still only a slave to him.

Still Alexis caught the Decepticon looking at her. But it wasn't quite the same even as sometimes the intensity behind his gazes made the breath stick in her throat as the hair on her arms lifted.

"Do I mistreat you?"

Alexis was just about to fall asleep when Thundercracker's voice drifted through the dark of his quarters. At one point, she would have thought his question irrelevant in regard to what she ultimately was to him, but she was starting to find more behind his few words then another's endless prattle.

"No. Not really," she yawned, turning over onto her stomach. She saw the faint dimness of his optics across the room from where Thundercracker was sitting on his berth. So far, she had come that now she could be somewhat relaxed around him and even engage in a polite conversation.

"And yet you would still do whatever it took to be free?"

"Freedom is important. Without it, I cannot be who I am supposed to be," Alexis let him know.

"Through me, you are protected. Out there you will die," he said succinctly, a curious bend to his words.

"Probably," Alexis agreed. "But it would be my life and _my_ choice."

Several long moments drifted by before he spoke again, "I have decided."

For a moment, she felt elation, thinking somehow after spending those months with him that he was starting to see reason and was starting to understand.

"Tomorrow you will return to the slave quarters," he finally said. His tone was so firm that to argue, a perilous thing at the best of times, was not something she was about to do.

Alexis turned over on her back, a hand brought to her mouth as she bit down what would have been a sob, tears wiped bitterly off her face. Curling into a ball, she brought the blanket tight around her body. She then wished she had what it took to get through to the Decepticon.


	5. Only

"You looking for something?"

To find Skywarp waiting for him outside the slave quarters was unexpected. Yet the fact that Thundercracker was down there himself wasn't exactly common either.

"Perhaps your slave?" Skywarp added to his initial question.

A raised optic ridge was Thundercracker's only response.

Pulling himself off the wall that Warp had been leaning too casually against, his wingmate took a step forward. He analyzed TC as if he was trying to compute his actions.

"I could ask you the same thing," Thundercracker spoke.

"Me?" Skywarp shrugged it off, smiling ever so slightly. "I just wanted to know what you were up to. You appeared quite determined."

TC said nothing. To speak would have been unwise. He brushed past his fellow Seeker, ready to make an exit. However, Warp had other ideas.

"Starscream took her."

He stopped at that. Skywarp knew immediately he was hooked, as he betrayed what his own silence couldn't hide. Thundercracker was only gone a few weeks. Just long enough to make a report to Megatron, to update some maps that were in need of correction, and survey some viable land for expansion. Yet when he returned the human whom he did not allow himself to think about even once during his absence was no where to be found or seen and not responding to his summons. He searched everywhere. As a very last resort he went down to the human area for a visual sweep, frightening many of the creatures during his impromptu appearance.

He turned around, knowing he just needed to wait. Warp was many things but keeping things to himself or for that matter, letting anything pass was not in his character.

"It was just a talk." Skywarp shrugged his shoulders, wings rising upwards a tick before dropping back down. "Starscream wanted to know if I thought your views on slaves have changed, and _well_..."

"What did you tell him?"

"Oh you know, nothing much except..." He shook his head, peering at Thundercracker. "You gotta admit TC; you may not be the most talkative of us all, but you do have a way of broadcasting your intent."

"_What_ did you tell him?" he repeated again his tone turning gruff.

"I told him I didn't know what you felt about the slaves in general, however, about _your_ slave..." Skywarp cringed, smiling in the uneasy way of the guilty. "I sorta told him what I felt through our link when you were around the human. How you felt nothing. Nothing at all."

Of course he felt nothing. Because he purposely filtered it through their shared link, not wanting either of them to even have an inkling the emotions the human managed to stir in him. But it wasn't the only time he did such a thing or his wingmates to him. Everything among the Trine was not always shared. No matter what others thought, privacy among the Seekers was needed sometimes.

"So how does this correspond to Starscream taking _my_ slave?"

"Oh you know how Starscream is, TC, and I sort of elaborated on how you actually tolerate your little human pet and..."

There was once a time when Skywarp wouldn't have even bothered coming to him. Once a time when he would have let TC run headlong into the slag that his wingmate had inadvertently or purposely created just to entertain himself. Fortunately, his wingmate had matured a little as their bond and shared experiences allowed them a close friendship that was past their affiliation.

"Where is she?"

The smile that spilled onto Skywarp's face was filled with mischief. Thundercracker's question seemed to confirm whatever the Seeker believed he thought of the human.

Skywarp gushed forth, "The only reason I have told you all this is because I know that in the rare times you get attached to something that you can get quite serious even for you. Starscream started to show attention to your slave when you left, and something happened, something that had him throwing her in the brig."

"What?"

Warp shook his head. "I don't know. Kinda strange that he didn't just terminate her don't you think? What I do know is that it has put Starscream in quite a mood even for him."

"How long has she been in there?" TC inquired.

"Four days."

Skywarp blocked his path when Thundercracker started to move. Words of caution commenced, "I didn't tell you this for my health. I told it to you for yours. Forget the slave. It's as good as dead, and if not that then Starscream obviously has some purpose for it, and you know how he gets when others interrupt."

The blue Seeker found it ironic that Warp had the audacity to offer him advice after he just admitted that what had happened was in part his fault. Found it ironic still that he thought he could even prevent him from moving for while both were equal in size, Thundercracker far outweighed his fellow Elite Seeker in combat experience.

Thundercracker, however, did not find any irony in the fact that Skywarp had let his mouthpiece run amuck. In the earlier days Skywarp was known for his rather annoying vocal enthusiasm for Megatron's command, which he continued even when the Decepticon leader wasn't around. When that was forcibly stopped, he substituted it for stirring trouble with rumors and speculation. It had been so long since Thundercracker found himself at the other end of it that he had almost forgotten about that annoying troublesome quality.

Straightening, optics surging, he left Skywarp. Knowing if he had been anyone else that did such a reckless thing to him, that mech wouldn't have been left standing there with the ability of watching him leave.

* * *

Now knowing where the girl was he found his systems stilling as he went to his quarters. Sitting down on his berth he debated on how to proceed.

At this point confronting Starscream would do no good except to confirm what Warp had probably told him. That is if Skywarp didn't already rush back to his fellow Seeker and inform Starscream of TC's reaction. The trickster nature of his wingmate was not always easily contained, and despite his outward manner he could still, and most often did enjoy creating scenarios as he sat back and watched them unfold with delight and anticipation.

Yet he didn't believe that was the case this time. In fact, he had more than enough experience with Warp that he knew he didn't tell him all that for nothing, but to prepare him. But why would Skywarp think that a slave dying would affect him no matter what he supposedly thought of her?

There was more to it. Something he wasn't seeing. Something that had not been revealed. He reclined back on the berth, settling upon it with the intent to recharge. To act immediately would have been the nature of a rash individual, something he most certainly was not.

He would wait. Use his patience against his wingmates as he allowed time to pass them by. Just enough that they would be distracted when he made his next move.

* * *

TC knew their routines. Recharging he came back online at just the right time. Screamer and Warp would now be off duty, distracted in whatever activity they found. His absence while obviously noticed would not be that unusual.

It felt rather strange walking through the base. The familiar corridors and hallways took on a whole new appearance as with stealth that he was created with came into play. Thundercracker made his way to the brig undetected, easily getting past the guard on duty. He made a mental note to discipline the derelict soldier at a later date.

Having all the security codes he quickly made his way through. The area while vast was not used much at the moment, even now the only occupants were a couple Decepticons that were being punished, or as he now knew a human as well. It wasn't difficult to find her for she was the only organic there. Alexis' cell door wasn't even locked, not that the human could have moved it anyway. Pushing the door open he walked cautiously inside.

Her readings were so faint yet Thundercracker found her immediately. Stopping from moving forward any further, he leaned down, optics scanning the human. Her vitals were all wrong, her main life organ pumping out a rhythm that was hollow and so dim.

"What have you done, human, to bring this upon you?"

The human wasn't dying but even he could see that weakened state she was in. Her body was being forced her into some sort of stasis lock to conserve what little energy Alexis had left. Skywarp was right. He wasn't prone to getting attached to anything. But the human below him now knew without any further denial, had, however, unexpectedly managed to get through his firewalls.

Routes suddenly entered his processor, one chosen as he scooped the small human into his hand before placing her gently inside his cockpit. It was easier to leave the cell block then to enter it. A back passage was used as he quickly found himself at the far south of the compound.

Taking the human out of him once he reached outside, Thundercracker returned to the base, collecting an odd item here and there before returning. Once more, he placed Alexis inside him. Taking off he left the base far behind.

* * *

She was already reviving. After removing the disciplinary ankle band Thundercracker had to give her a stimulant that the slaves in the mining camps were by now extremely familiar with. He gave her antibiotics as well, further compounds that Decepticon medics had created. Substances that were known for their miraculous capabilities on the humans as they boosted them with energy even as they healed. Of course, he knew with it was supposed to come dependency, but he made sure the dosage he administered was just enough to allow her a starting chance.

For he decided to free her.

It wasn't an easy decision nor a logical one. But whatever she did Starscream obviously wanted her to suffer, in all likelihoods die, and that outcome was not one he was ready to allow. Not when he had a choice.

Her body was moving, her hands pushing and traveling across the wood that lined her sides. She groaned, head shifting, mouth opening as she exhaled shakily. In moments she would be awake. It was then that he knew his departure was at hand. Leaning down his digit tentatively touched her arm, lingering momentarily before he pulled away.

Taking off, boosters gently lifted him skywards and away.

* * *

Starscream was not happy. No, Starscream was furious even as he tried to appear unaffected. But TC knew and even felt different. It had been some time since Thundercracker saw his fellow Seeker in such a state, his oncoming manic disposition putting everyone on edge. Those that could made a hasty retreat out of the throne room that was building with hostility.

"_Repeat_ what you said," Starscream ordered, managing to pull back some of his fury as he stretched backwards on his throne chair.

"I said there is no reason to look for the human. I killed her." Thundercracker's calm manner brought back the tension in the room.

"The reason?" the Supreme Air commander queried of the human. The oddity of the question was highly conspicuous even as somehow TC had been expecting it.

"Skywarp told me she defied you," Thundercracker half lied. A part of him hoped to draw further illumination on the subject out of his wingmate. However, it only had the opposite effect.

Starscream glared at Warp before returning his attention back to Thundercracker. It was then that TC noticed it was only the Seekers left in the room, everyone else obviously not inane enough to stay.

"I had her punishment well under hand," the Supreme Air Commander said, a hidden delight floating through his tone before being covered with irritation.

"Of _my_ slave..."

"What are you getting at? Don't try to be evasive with me, Thundercracker, you insult my intelligence."

"You gave the creature to me. It was mine to do with as I pleased," TC finally stated openly. His tone was strong yet detached, an affront from his wingmates actions causing his words to be tainted with aggression.

"And did you?" Starscream asked curtly**, **he leaned forward with livened anticipation. "Did you _do_ as you pleased?"

"Yes. I _killed_ her."

That was not what Starscream had been asking. All three knew it. The Supreme Air Commander seemed to think for a moment on whether or not to pursue it. Thundercracker felt their link broaden, Starscream aggressively using the Trine's bond to scan him. He allowed it already prepared. Starscream reigned in his anger with trained expertise as an enigmatic smile curved upwards. That was when TC knew he had accepted it.

"I suppose you want another slave now?" Again that tone of voice appeared, a lustful vigor in the words that made Starscream's optics surge from their utterance.

"No. It isn't worth the effort," Thundercracker groused.

The two looked at one another; the hostility was still there as it bounced back and forth between them.

Skywarp brought it to an end. Stepping before the two, he smiled uncertainly. "Hey what's the fuss? It was only a slave."

Starscream's optics did not leave Thundercracker's as they brightened with intensity.

"Yes," the Supreme Air Commander hissed, "_only _a slave."


	6. Alone

Waking, Alexis found her head fuzzy and pounding, her mouth dry and neck stiff. Eyes opening, confusion came immediately. She expected it to be dark, the cell she had been thrown in was a vacuum of light. However, that was not where she was now. Wood was underneath her, grass sprouting along the edge and air surrounding her in its unadulterated and very pure state.

Alexis managed to sit up, legs drawn up to her chest as her gaze wandered. She was in the middle of a gazebo; an elaborate, yet now very untidy garden on every side of the small construct. Confusion grew, the strangeness of the desolate surroundings giving her a feeling of unease.

Trying to stand up, she bumped against something. Light jumped out of the darkness as a small device lit up. For a moment of time, she just stared at the thing, a lump forming in her throat that she was unable to swallow away. Tapping the apparatus, she finally picked it up.

It was some sort of data pad, an elaborate electronic device that as she peered at it flickered as its screen changed. A map of sorts appeared on the screen as it zoomed in, a path marked, a destination fixed. One that was exactly where she had been captured and so close to home.

Saving the analysis of the thing for another time, she used the illumination of the device as she swept it beneath her. Earlier, she felt something else near her body, something that had been startlingly cold against her arm.

Alexis froze when she found the thing, startled somewhat even as she stared. It was a gun. Yet unlike any she ever saw. There were markings along it, engravings as well. Picking it up she was astonished by how light it was. She nearly dropped it when the tablet started to blink, schematics coming up, followed by instructions on how to use the weapon.

That was when she felt the craziness of her entire situation. When the questions flooded through. Where was she? How did she get there? Who brought her there? Managing to stand up, finding her feet more balanced than she would have believed possible Alexis took a couple steps forward.

All it took was three steps before one of her questions was answered. Looking down she saw the ground before the gazebo was marred by sinkholes from what were very large footprints. It didn't take her brain even a second to identify who they belonged to for she had stared at the Seeker's intricately shaped feet long enough to match them up perfectly.

For a terrifying moment, she thought perhaps it was a game that Starscream wanted to play. Chills went up her back, heart rate pitching. No, he wouldn't have let her out of the cell, would have never let her off base or left her alone outside. Once she came to that conclusion, she forced herself to think of something else. The Seeker frightened her. What he tricked her into doing. What he wanted her to do. She would not think about that. Not when there were far worthier things to take precedence in her mind.

Like getting as far away from where she was to anywhere but there. Yes, that was a goal that was sure to make her feel somewhat more secure.

Ignoring the pangs in her head and the throbbing underneath her eyes, she walked out of the gazebo. Hand clutching to the side, something shifted deep within her stomach, her body pitching forward as she rapidly and with great distress emptied the contents of her stomach.

Yet considering she had barely eaten anything in the past couple days Alexis was surprised she had anything to purge at all.

The dizziness lifted and Alexis actually felt better. Wiping her mouth on her sleeve, head rising, she saw a house which wasn't that far away. Walking forward, she didn't get far when she heard what sounded like a branch breaking to the left. Her imagination took off as she stilled. Turning around after a minute or so she hurried back to the gazebo, staring down at the weapon she purposefully left behind before coming to a decision she didn't really like. But paranoia at that moment reigned supreme. Picking up the gun, gripping it tightly, she continued once more toward the house.

* * *

A couple of days had gone by since she found herself free. And when she wasn't sleeping, Alexis was walking. She managed to find a backpack and some food and other essentials in the house she had been dropped off nearby, and even when her mind told her to get rid of all the obvious alien tech that she had been left with, for the moment, as she tried to acclimate herself to her new situation, she used the data pad to guide her journey. Alexis promised herself that once she found a real map, she would rid herself of the thing.

The world felt even more lonely than she ever recalled. At least when she had been with her brother, they had each other. Yet now on her own she was wary of every turn of the road and what it might bring, not to mention every unknown sound. She found herself increasingly paranoid and left with vast amounts of time to think.

She already came to the conclusion that it was Thundercracker, who freed her. Although why he had was a conundrum. After all he left her for weeks, left her as Starscream used her as some sort of toy. Alexis stopped those thoughts, finding that they had brought her steps to a halt as she internally froze. It didn't matter why he freed her. The point was that he had, and that she needed to get back to her own state. She needed to find her brother. Needed to...

Behind her, Alexis heard something. Whipping around she gazed at the road. She felt terrifyingly exposed on the empty highway, yet it was the only course she could take. What she saw astonished. A herd of horses was galloping freely along the concrete, whinnying and speeding along. Alexis watched them until they passed the distance that she was capable of seeing, the lively creatures eventually disappearing over a bend on the road.

If she had been in a movie, the screen would have gone black indicating the next scene was upon them, one that would open, slowly pulling back only to find her riding one of the magnificent creatures, Alexis somehow managing to not only capture one of the horses, but tame it as well. But her life wasn't a movie, far from it, and how could she a person who had never ridden a horse except at a ranch she went to one summer, ever expect to carry off such a feat. She wasn't even about to amuse herself with an attempt at trying.

She walked on.

Here and there, she would pass patches of abandoned cars. Occasionally, she would attempt to start one, but they never would. The Decepticons somehow disabled them all as if knowing someday they might want to be used again.

Yet while Alexis couldn't drive them, she still used them as she rested inside, taking shelter from the heat as she drank water in small sips. Then forced to sleep in one of them as she found the highway longer than she originally anticipated.

Of course, not as long as her overall journey. She was so many states away from her own of Wisconsin, that the thought of walking the entire way there would sometimes overcome Alexis. But she forced herself to continue, unwilling to give up.

A couple more days passed, and still she hadn't come across any other humans. Luckily though, she finally came across a residential area. Taking a whole day she stocked up on food, wandering through the empty shops as she found a couple of books to keep her company during her resting hours, and a larger even more comfortable backpack, so she could carry more items.

She almost didn't want to leave the small town, and yet she couldn't leave the utter emptiness of it fast enough. Following the directions on her data pad, she saw it was leading her to yet another highway. Again, she felt like she was supposed to dump the thing. For all she knew it had some sort of tracking device on it. But she still didn't believe that made sense when she thought of it, and for now, she needed the tablet to guide her journey.

It was five hours later that Alexis believed she was seeing things. But no, slowing down she identified that it was indeed a body on the side of the road. For a moment, she thought of turning around, of running, of getting away and not looking back.

Instead, she walked forward extremely cautious and on alert, afraid that she was about to see a dead body up close and personal again. The instinct for flight nearly overtook her once more. Despite that she found herself going forward. Leaning down, checking for a pulse, she found one.

Relieved at that she looked the person over. It was a young man who wasn't that far from her age by the look of it things. His head was banged up, a bruise evident on the top of his forehead that was halfway concealed by his hair, dried blood stuck above his left brow.

But how did he get there? In the middle of nowhere?

His clothes were torn, but far from tattered. Whatever he got into before he had obviously been looking out for himself and surviving moderately well. He was slim but not small and even supine she could make out subtle signs of a defined musculature. His skin was sunburned in areas; other patches tanned lightly. She leaned forward trying to get an even better view.

Alexis nearly tripped backwards when a hand suddenly gripped her elbow. The man's eyes opened as she found herself analyzed. She shook herself out of his grip, backing up, she grabbed her backpack quickly, ready to flee.

"Wait!" the person said. Sitting up he raised his hand toward her pleading.

She took a step back toward him, compassion there as she watched him rub his head. He sat up slowly, a groan escaping from his lips. He closed his eyes tightly before reopening them. And before she knew exactly what she was doing Alexis leaned before him, a canister of water opened as she gave him a couple of sips.

"Are... are you okay?" Alexis asked. At least ten other inquires raced through her brain. She was starting to get angry at all the questions she was filled with, angry because the answers did not seem forthcoming.

Gray eyes latched onto her. She found herself staring into them, realizing she missed human company, missed interacting, even missed talking to another. However, she knew she had to be careful. Trust was even harder to earn than ever and while she wasn't about to treat everyone like her enemy, she knew that her being totally alone meant her caution was not only required but definitely pragmatic.

"I'm... alive." He eyed her, his gaze wandering over Alexis slowly. If she wasn't still in a slight shock of coming across another human being, she would have surely blushed bright. "What are you doing here? Where did you come from?" Her lack of an answer had him continuing, "I see. You want me to answer first, am I right? Don't blame you. Strange human in the middle of nowhere..." He frowned, eyebrows lifting. "I was on one of the Decepticon slave transports. Fortunately, I prepared for the eventuality and managed to escape."

"You're hurt," Alexis said, she pointed at his brow.

He grimaced, fingers hovering over the wound on his forehead. She realized then that despite the bruising on his face, he was pleasant enough to look at. Repeatedly, she found herself drawn back to his strangely exotic gray eyes. "Yeah, escaping might have been easy, but I managed to bang myself up pretty bad when I exited the transport. Guess I didn't account for the speed. Nor for the fact that I was a long way from civilization, water and food... Do you know what day it is?"

Alexis shook her head. The truth was she didn't even know what month it was. Although she knew at least five or six months had passed since she had been taken as a Decepticon slave. What a blur time had become, what a forsaken concept that had somehow lost its value as the weight of the world crushed it down into an unreachable chasm of lost perception.

"No matter. Guess those things aren't really important nowadays... Wow. My cranium aches." He gently poked his fingers through his brown hair before sliding them back forward. Two fingers remained on his brow where he rubbed gently.

"I have some aspirin," Alexis said, after eying him for a rather long moment. Listening to her instincts, Alexis decided that she didn't feel threatened by the guy, and convinced herself that if he tried anything, she could handle it.

Putting her backpack on the ground, she quickly located some pills in the front pocket. Throwing the bottle at him, he caught it deftly and then took a couple aspirin out, which he swallowed.

"So, where are you headed?" he questioned.

For a moment, she nearly told him exactly where. Biting down on her tongue, she started again as she answered, "Home."

"And where is home?"

Alexis' view shifted, taking in the road on either side. The wind picked up, pushing lightly against her cheeks, a light touch that seemed to bring with it many a memory of her house and family.

"Far from this place," she answered, her guard up.

Again, he was looking at her. There was an intensity in his gaze. His eyes rising and shifting, they landed on her own. "Want company?" he asked, at least having the decency to sound hesitant.

It was her turn to interrogate.

"Are you a Decepticon spy?"

"No."

"A collaborator?"

"No."

She narrowed her eyes. "Leading me into some elaborate trap?"

"No." He shook his head at that, actually amused by her questions. "Listen, after all that I have been through I just could really use some... normal company."

Alexis almost smiled, feeling oddly at ease. "Fine. But I lead the way, and if you try anything funny you will find yourself alone... _very_ quickly."

"Deal."


	7. Intrigue

It was engraved in Starscream's matrix to crave something another wanted, and when it was one of his fellow Seekers that interest could go into overdrive. At first, he didn't think much of Thundercracker's treatment toward his slave, after all, in the beginning, he did nothing short of ignoring the creature. And while as more time passed outwardly his manner seemed to remain a steady one of detachment, the curious manner in which TC started to treat the slave caught Starscream's notice. If it had been anyone else but Thundercracker, he would have thought nothing of it, after all, none of them were beyond using their slaves as forms of amusement or even distraction. But TC did not seek suck frivolities, which made what the Supreme Air Commander saw catch his attention.

Thundercracker didn't even try to hide the fact that he took the femme for rides. Yet it was the incident of Starscream coming upon his fellow Seeker actually conversing with the creature, and rather amicably, however carefully reserved, that was enough to make the curiosity peak into the need to know exactly what was going on.

To ask his wingmate directly would have never worked. Among the three, TC was the most private. There were still things about Thundercracker that Starscream had yet to discover, and long ago found was a waste of Energon to try to. Spying would have done no good either, and as far as Starscream could tell Thundercracker wasn't exactly trying to hide anything anyway.

It wasn't until months later of watching his fellow Seeker, of analyzing him carefully, observing his wingmate's reactions and overall demeanor that he figured out enough to give him the first glimpse at something that was both equally repulsive and fascinating.

Thundercracker wasn't just partial to his slave; he was enamored with it.

Asking Skywarp about it in a carefully rather offhanded manner only confirmed what Starscream already believed. Although Warp invariably had no idea the extent of it all, or all that it implied.

It was in the last couple weeks before Thundercracker was due to report to Megatron that TC became more guarded. He confined the human to his quarters as some sort of punishment, or so he said, even as Starscream had his doubts. That was when his curiosity went into its peak. He started to wonder exactly what was going on in Thundercracker's private compartments, especially when his fellow Seeker seemed stuck in a rather complacent attitude of diluted contentment.

Having the human sent back to the slave quarters, Thundercracker departed. It took Starscream all of two days before he made use of her himself. He had never really bothered looking at a human, the closest inspection he ever made of one was after Megatron disposed of half of a dozen of them after they first landed on Earth. His impression of them had been of their obvious flaw of fragility, along with the image of vast amounts of bio fluids that seemed readily spillable, spreading before being soaked by the vibrant brown and green landscape.

Realizing that he actually owned one of the femme creatures as his own slave, he summoned it immediately. The creature entered his quarters with obvious tension, fumbling forward as she bowed low. It was only logical for his analytical, inspecting gaze to bare down on the femme, after all, that was what Thundercracker owned. Never before had he allowed a human into his private chambers, but what he was about to do could afford no spectators.

Yes, the organic had served him many a time, the long mane of blond hair, the overly submissive manner that appealed to his ego, and the fact that she was alive and after such a period of time meant however little he noticed her; she obviously served him adequately.

Staring down at her, he realized he could only see so much.

"Stand up," he demanded.

The human did as it was told, getting up on its feet, hands dangled awkwardly along its sides. His optics made use of the altered view as his scanners swept over the form. Rising, Starscream walked around the creature. A self-satisfied smile lifted on his face as he saw her begin to tremble. Sitting back down he praised himself on how well the human feared him.

Done with the visual examination, his digits curled around the edge of the arms of his chair. Leaning down, he plucked the creature up, placing it upon a table nearby as he shifted. Wasting no preamble his digit sought the creature's flesh, wandering it went, down and up, back and forth. Tactile perceptions were identified as he went on. He was almost astounded when his sensors identified the slave's sudden reaction to what he was doing, but there was no denying that the creature below him was steadily becoming heated while other strange occurrences began in her body.

"Do I make you hot flesh creature?"

His dominating digit pulling away from her body, she bit back a moan. But he had no further need to touch the creature, and her strange unexpected enjoyment however increasingly noticeable was not his concern.

She nodded her head in the affirmative.

"You would do anything I demand would you not, human?"

The trembling of the femme increased, his voice alone enough to stir her further. He was starting to have fun, suddenly anticipating what he now knew was going to be a most satisfying experiment.

"Anything," the femme breathed.

The slave was only a test, yet she lived true to her word. Perhaps the Seeker should have been impressed with her increased boldness as it continued, but Starscream wasn't. And by the time the whole experience was through, he was even further unimpressed, despite that there had indeed been brief moments of pleasure for him.

Dismissing the femme as soon as he was done with her, Starscream watched as rather wobbly she made her way to the door.

"Wait a moment," Starscream demanded.

The human paused, turning around, face flushing even as he clearly interpreted what the female believed he wanted. Starscream laughed at that, knowing he was quite through with the creature. In fact, the intimate act she performed upon him really had nothing to do with the human at all.

"My Lord?" she gushed out. There was expectation in the two small words as she visibly bristled.

"Send me Alexandra, immediately."

Yes, that had the complete demoralizing effect he had been looking for. To call the other human by her designation when he had not bothered nor cared to know of the one below him.

The slave paled, nostrils flaring, back straightening. "Thundercracker's slave, my Lord?"

"Did I stutter?"

"Anything that girl could do for you, my lord, I could do... and so much more willingly." He heard the seductive manner her voice took on, one that repulsed.

"You presume too much, slave. Not only that, but have forgotten your place. I was just going to send you back to the slave quarters in peace, no matter the fact that you were far from pleasing. Now I see that I must take more decisive measures."

"My Lord Starscream, I was just..."

He interrupted, "Silence, fleshbag. You derive pleasure from touching metal. It is only deserving that you shall be forever surrounded by it as I send you to the mines. Now leave me."

She spoke no further, exiting quickly.

The day after that, he had Thundercracker's slave delivered to his quarters. It was not as if the other femme had been capable of delivering the message where she had gone. The procedure began the same way. He analyzed the femme before he picked her up and placed her on his worktable. And that was where the similarities of the two encounters halted. The way she held herself, he knew she was fighting the urge to look up at him.

"Do you wish to look upon me, human?"

"It seems only right after the way you just inspected me." She moved then, hand coming up to land over her mouth even if it was far too late. Cautiously, she backed away.

"Do you speak so boldly with your Master Thundercracker?" Starscream wanted to know.

Shoulder's rising, she breathed out hard. The female bit down on her mouth and seemed hesitant about answering. Her neck craned again and once more he got the impression that she wanted to look at him.

"I do speak to him," she finally said, a nervousness was present in her tone that was equal to the fear.

"Does he allow you to look at him?"

This time she didn't bother answering, her brow creased.

"Then I will permit you the privilege of gazing upon me as well," Starscream allowed.

"It is not required, my lord." It was the first time since her arrival that she had spoken to him with his due title. Thundercracker's slave appeared submissive, but there was something beneath the very surface of her representation of self that served to deceive.

"That was _not _a request, human." Never before had he given a human such permission, there had been no need, but knowing that Thundercracker allowed such an action only throttled his determination.

Before he was about to repeat himself, her head rose swiftly, her gaze wandering over him before seeking out his optics. He frightened her. He knew that then with even more certainty, but she still she held his optics, peering into them as if to see to his very spark.

It was anger he felt then at the slave's blatant display, despite the given permission. Starscream got rid of the human, a couple of days passing before he summoned her again. After that he demanded her presence another time and once more. It was the last encounter they had that led to the ultimate fate of the femme.

The girl was certainly not like the other one he allowed in his chambers. She was naive about his intentions, blissfully ignorant of what he wanted from her, so painfully inexperienced even for a human. Of course, Starscream took full advantage of it. Unfortunately near the end she figured out what was really causing such a reaction from the Seeker as she got as far away from him as she could. Light burst and energy trailed after the femme as he howled and hissed, writhing against the pleasurable sensations.

But she refused to do it again. So he gave her an ultimatum, one that she surprised him yet again when the human willingly, happily, took the worst. Such was how she ended in the brig.

It should have been enough that he got pleasure from the slave before his fellow Seeker, but he was only left aggravated because a mere human, a slip of a worthless life form, managed to elicit want from him even as she openly defied, not to mention denied him. He visited her, taunted her, told her what she would ultimately give in to. If her rejection didn't increase the hunger and the excitement, he would have easily and without any reservations just gotten rid of the girl.

And now she was gone, terminated by Thundercracker. He shouldn't have allowed his covetousness to spawn into fixation as it made him forget what his wingmate was capable of. However, in perspective and in truth, he was glad she was dead. And pleased that it was Thundercracker that killed her. Which meant that no matter what TC had felt, his priority and loyalty were still foremost to his wingmates and to his own lord.

Starscream could most certainly live with that. The girl became just another number added to the perpetually growing human casualty list, just another slave already forgotten.


	8. Companion

Alexis found it all amazing how quickly she became accustomed to her new companion. Perhaps it was because of the rather shattered times she was in, but she felt as if she knew him, and as if they could more than just get along.

Timothy Evans Charles, his name was, a pilot who had managed to escape during the initial Decepticon attack, finding himself the only survivor out of his entire unit. He didn't talk much about that though, and she hadn't pushed him as yet. Alexis knew some secrets were better left untold. He could be talkative, or suddenly remote to the extreme. His personality shifted constantly as if he were two people, or just had a fair amount of stuff on his mind. However, she rather liked him. Despite her initial misgivings, Alexis was glad that she met him.

They had only been traveling about two weeks, but the two were making good progress. Things were actually going more smoothly now that she had someone with her to help forge for food, look for supplies, or the best thing of all, someone to talk to. Her despair and loneliness were banished to the past. Once more, Alexis had a reason, a need, to be close to someone.

"Can't sleep?"

Alexis heard him approaching and when he sat down beside her, she voiced no objection. Timothy had a knack for finding good places to camp for the night and the place they were at that night was no different.

Leaning against a tree, body relaxed, she was gazing out at the small lake, watching the reflection of the moon as it floated along the top of the water. Lights fluttered and twisted above and beneath the watery depths, the liquid moving slowly from the intermittent gusts of wind. They arrived during the dusk, far too late for either of them to make a physical examination of the lake. Alexis so wanted to clean herself, to jump in it and splash around, to make good use of the soap and shampoos she had collected, but it would have to wait until morning.

The temperature at the moment was unbearably hot. Her light, short-sleeve shirt was already sticking, sweat accumulating as she found herself tempted to forget about the threat of what could lie beneath the entrancingly peaceful waters.

"It's too hot," Alexis uttered. Bringing a bottle up, she took a sip of the water, gulping it slowly. Closing her eyes, she savored the rather cool liquid. "I think this heat is going to kill me," she elaborated.

Opening her eyes after several long moments, she found Timothy staring at her, his gaze upon her so intent that she momentarily forgot to breathe. That was one thing she was far from accustomed to, he could be so intense sometimes, the way he could look at her as curious as it was daunting.

"I prefer you alive," he said dryly, a confused frown on his mouth.

Alexis laughed at that. Timothy had such curious humor that she couldn't help but smile.

"Is there something out there?" he asked, turning his attention to the beckoning lake before them.

"Yeah, _relief_. You don't know how hard it is to not just jump into the water," she let Tim know.

"I wouldn't recommend it." He shook his head, narrowing his eyes. "There could be snakes, snapping turtles or many other various things that could hurt you."

Her mouth twisted into a frown. "I have been staring for over an hour, the only thingsels I have seen are fish wading around."

"Still..."

Alexis interrupted, "And I am so hot. My head hurts, and I bet the water is incredibly cool."

"If it is so important to you, then just do it."

What he said wasn't a dare, wasn't even a go ahead, there was an objection that lined his words despite what he said and yet strangely enough that was all Alexis needed.

Getting up she took one step, then another. Alexis took her shoes off and pulled back her hair. The soft moon illuminating her path, she slowly waded through the water; she was knee deep, waist deep and then the water rose above her shoulders. She quickly plunged in, emerging her body underneath the wet darkness as she kept her eyes open. Dark shadows pushed and pulled with the water, an eeriness arriving as she found herself oddly transfixed.

The water was cool, more than she had believed. Holding her breath, she stayed under as long as she could, until with a fit of need for oxygen, she shot toward the surface. Breathing deep Alexis stood, or tried to, she must have gone further when she was under, for now, she had no other option but to hover, hands moving back and forth beside her body as she stayed afloat above the depths.

Perched on some large rocks before the edge of the water, Timothy watched; his neck craned in her direction, his body relaxing as soon as he spotted Alexis.

"The water is wonderful!" she shouted, accidentally swallowing some liquid. Closing her mouth more tightly she swam. Her shirt pulled across her belly, suddenly heavy and binding, her jean shorts even worse. She wanted to take off some of her clothes. Alexis most certainly would have if she knew Tim wasn't watching, but since she wasn't alone she could only push through the waters, forcing herself to forget about her rather unnecessary clothing as she drifted.

If she was anyone else, she would have invited him in, but even with him standing in visual distance, she enjoyed the solitude and found she didn't want to be interrupted. So she swam slowly, caressed and swallowed up by the liquid Alexis moved along. Eyes shutting, she listened to the sounds of the water moving. Until she had the strong impression that she was no longer alone. Opening her eyes, turning around, Timothy swam up. He grabbed onto her arm, motioning for Alexis to follow. She meant to object, but she was rather stunned by his sudden appearance and dominating attitude that she went along with his prodding, swimming alongside him.

"What is going on?" she asked, looking to the right and left Alexis saw nothing.

"You should at least stay where I can _see_ you," he replied, his tone covered in mild exasperation.

His comment made her see how far from land she was, in fact; she couldn't even see it. The darkness suddenly pushed down on her, the once peaceful waters filled with danger of the unknown. It was a good five minutes before she saw the tree she had been leaning against earlier, a couple of minutes after that when Alexis found she could actually stand. Walking back up the low rocky hill, grabbing a blanket from her backpack, she started to dry herself off.

Timothy gave her a couple of moments before he turned around and charged right up to her. At first, Alexis thought he was going to chastise her further, but instead he just leaned forward, hand brushing across her cheek.

"You have no right to purposely place yourself in danger, as I am given the only option of rescuing you."

Alexis huffed at that. He seemed, internally at least, to be smiling. She could almost sense his amusement. Her affront grew, cheeks blazing pink as she pushed by.

"I don't need you to rescue me. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Before you even came along..."

She found her right hand tugged upon. Alexis' body was forced back around.

"I didn't mean to anger you," he said softly. "I just want you to be more aware of your surroundings, to be careful." His voice went even lower, his breath brushing across her nose. How did he end up so close? Alexis took a step back and pulled her hand out of his.

"You are right, of course. I did place myself in danger," she spoke apologetically. "Thank you, for coming after me."

His shoulders dropped, eyebrows rising. Frowning, Tim watched Alexis walk away.

* * *

"Perhaps, I should sleep elsewhere," Alexis recommended.

"When there is a perfectly suitable bed _here_?"

This was the first time they came upon a house in their travels and now that they were inside it; Alexis felt not exactly uncomfortable, but uncertain about what to do.

"You can have the bed," she offered readily. She pointed inside the room, staring at the rather large thing. Backing up, she believed the matter settled now that she sacrificed comfort.

"It's best we don't separate," he said quietly but firmly, "especially after we saw signs of Decepticon activity." "_You_ take the bed. I will sleep on the floor."

"I don't know I... that is..."

"This isn't up for discussion."

"And just who put _you_ in command?"

"In matters of warfare?" He lifted up his back, arms crossing defiantly over his chest. "Myself. I don't recall you having any combat experience."

"And being stuck for several months with some of the most dangerous Decepticons doesn't quality me a little?" she asked with agitation.

He shook his head at that. "No, however, if you actually shared about what you went through instead of holding on to it all perhaps, then..."

"As if you haven't been keeping things from me, I am not the only one holding onto things, and I don't appreciate..."

It was Tim's confounded look that stopped Alexis. Where did all that hostility come from anyway? No, she knew from where. She was a frightened, for the first time in a while, the Decepticons seemed too close for comfort and she was at odds at how to deal with it.

Timothy went across the room and disappeared inside what looked to be a bathroom. She heard water running and then stopping. He returned.

"The water is still working. It's not hot, but should be good enough if you want to bathe."

She nodded her head but didn't move. Timothy placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's OK to be frightened, Alexis. I know I don't have any idea what you went through, but I do understand that the time spent among those Decepticons must have been hell."

"I'm sorry I bit your head off. I didn't mean to."

He smiled a little. "I know. So I will sleep on the floor, and you get the bed," he repeated.

"Okay," Alexis finally agreed. Pulling off the top comforter, she handed it to Timothy. "This should help with the hard floor." She handed him a pillow as well.

She sat on the bed and brought her legs up to her chest. Leaning against them, she tensed when after he placed the stuff on the floor he sat down beside her on the bed.

"We are going to be OK, Alexis. I promise. I'll take care of you."

She almost went back into defensive mode at that. But he wasn't calling her weak, just trying to ease her fears. Alexis acted upon her sudden gratefulness, holding onto Timothy while he whispered comforting words, more promises made. That was when she knew only God could have led her to someone such as him. And for the first time since she met up with Tim, she felt the incomprehensible need to tell him more. Parting from him, his hand lingering on her own, Alexis told him what she never wanted to tell anyone.

"I was with my brother when I was captured. You see, there was this boy and..." she began, not stopping until most of her experience among the Decepticons was purged.


	9. Focus

Thundercracker worn down with his energy levels on low is not why he lost it with Barricade. For he never really needed an excuse when dealing with Megatron's hunter. With how he felt at that moment, the speck of a 'Con was lucky that he didn't get torn apart.

Already exasperated, when he found Barricade pummeling another of his defenseless humans, TC became irritated to the extreme. He never understood the pleasure some got when asserting their power over a weakling.

That was how the mech found himself shoved against a wall, and the Seeker's canon shoved before his optics. Sparing a look down, he found the astonished human looking up at him, the slave whom Thundercracker had the misfortune to come upon that would have only ended up terminated.

"You disgust me," Thundercracker rasped. "Your lack of restraint only speaks of your weakness."

"At least I don't go _soft_ for them," Barricade shot back, chuckling. "And trying to disparage my actions when just a couple of weeks ago you killed your only one? Who had the lack of restraint then?" he hissed.

Ignoring the words, TC shoved the mech deeper against the hallway wall. Chunks of cement broke up and fell down at his pediforms. He spared one more look of disgust for the black-and-white hunter before releasing him. Turning, Thundercracker's words drifted down to the bruised and bloodied human.

"Get out of here. Your life is spared. Be more _carefu_l in the future," he warned.

He heard the scouring of feet when the male slave picked himself up and ran away.

* * *

The remembrance of coming to the aid of a human was the first thing that tapped into his processor when his charging cycle was over. And being how Barricade was, his intervention would surely only cause contention, or, in reality, greater contention, for the two of them had never gotten along, and it wasn't just because the hunter was a mere grounder.

However, Barricade could do whatever he wanted. It was no concern to him. Thundercracker had dealt with duplicitous individuals before, slag, he was Starscream's trinemate. He was more than prepared, and it had been some mega-cycles since anyone got the better of him.

Not that he was overconfident because that would have been foolish for anyone in his position, but he had far more important things to take up his time.

* * *

Thundercracker didn't think of her, or at least he labored not to. Anytime he found himself distracted; he would push it away as easily as he could when Starscream felt the need to criticize, whether about his circumstances, his troops, or the planet in general. Not that the Supreme Air Commander complained of late. In actuality, Starscream's mood became gratified after the hostile confrontation involving the femme. As if him killing the human, awoke a sense of camaraderie that he had not bothered with for some time.

Weeks passed with time flowing smoothly across his days as tasks took up his time. TC took more to flying since his arrival on the planet, going across the earth as he learned. Finding what data he could, taking it in readily, he familiarized himself with the indigenous beings as he shuffled through it all. He watched their movies, read their books, finding other odd things here and there that he took in and processed. No, he most certainly wasn't interested in the humans, but the femme did something to his systems, awakening his curiosity of the humans, something that forced himself to create rather extensive programs to keep his educational jaunts private. His curiosity in the creatures would not have gone over well.

Thundercracker had just returned from such an excursion. One where he found a radio station with hard drives full of data, which, after decoding the simplistic security walls, he found what humans called music inside. A strange mixture of sounds and voices that blended, or didn't blend together, creating a unique, albeit disconcerting track of sound waves.

So focused on listening to his strange discovery, he tried to ignore how agitated everyone appeared. However, Skywarp grabbing hold of Thundercracker and pulling him into a storage room, he found his opportunity lost.

"You're never going to believe it," Warp chirped out, an excited manner to his speech that was only bellied by the seriousness in his optics, "the slaves are gone."

TC lifted an optic ridge and shrugged his shoulder plates. "Is that all?" Unimpressed by the revelation, he made a move to get away.

"_All _of them," Skywarp elaborated. "And we can't locate them, even the transmitters they were implanted with have been deactivated."

"So they escaped, that doesn't..."

"No, not escaped, they were _helped!_ Someone, one of _us_, helped them. And you're looking at him," a voice said, it materializing into Barricade as the black-and-white mech settled easily against the wall, his optics severely latched to Thundercracker. Now that he had their attention, Barricade eagerly continued, "He freed them. Of course, I would expect no less from the _human_ lover." The grounder laughed.

He didn't laugh for long though. Skywarp disappeared in a flash of light and gush of air, reappearing before the startled hunter. Not even wasting a moment or word, Warp brought his wrist up, shoving it brutally against Barricade. Down the mech went, Energon gushing from an exposed circuit relay, his paneling scraped along his chin-plate.

"You may have Megatron's audio receptors, but dare to repeat such lies again, and I will _really _take it personally." Skywarp leaned forward, his attitude shifting into a playful banter of words that could be more dangerous than an open show of bitter contempt. "So, have anything _else_ you want to say?"

Barricade spat and brought himself up slowly, carefully.

"I know it was him," the hunter accused. "He has grown _soft_ for the humans."

Skywarp stared at the mech before bursting into a fit of laughter. Coming back toward TC, he playfully shoved Thundercracker as he laughed further.

Pushing some of the mirth back, Warp spoke cheerfully, "Yeah, TC going soft for a bunch of humans, as if that day will ever come. All though, I must admit, if he did, at least it would show a spark of something different. And Primus knows, of all of us mechs if anyone could use an upgrade of personality it would be Thundercracker."

The chuckling stopped when Warp got a good look at TC's expression that was far from amused. Walking away, the purple Seeker stopped once more before Barricade, who smartly did not remove himself from the floor that Skywarp shoved him on.

"I tell you what, Barricade." Warp smiled, an edge along the lines of his mouth that was as easily changeable as his moods. "You don't speak any such filth again, which I might add only shows how obviously inferior you feel you are, and you won't wake up with your head in the trash compactor, and the rest of you scattered across the far side of the moon. What do you say?"

Not waiting for an answer, Warp left the two alone, a quick nod spared for Thundercracker.

Walking up to the hunter, Barricade flinched but didn't back away and even went as far to lift up his frame, a sneer of a smile caught at the corner of his mouthpiece.

Bending down, Thundercracker stared at the mech, unimpressed and unamused.

"Have nothing to add, Thundercracker? Or do you let Skywarp do all your talking for you?" Barricade taunted

"No, I do not," he said, his fist coming forward and impacting along Barricade's jaw plate. "I can _speak_ quite well on my own."

"You may have gotten away with it this time, but..."

The words were literally slammed away with TC's fist, the mech's optics dimming. Getting back up, he left Barricade and the room behind. But not the accusation. Him helping humans? Even if he had, Barricade would be the last to discover such a thing. Perhaps, if Barricade tried to back up his words with something more than blind belief and rancor, he would have seen he was closer to a truth then even Thundercracker would have ever acknowledged.

* * *

"What exactly are you up to?"

Skywarp slammed his body down, sitting before Thundercracker. The recreation room was mainly empty, the rumor that Megatron was going to arrive in the next couple cycles, probably the cause for its emptiness. Many were busy preparing for their Decepticon lord's appearance.

Thundercracker held back a sigh. "Right now? Lining up the south quadrants received data packet with the information gotten from the..."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"If you just spoke what you meant, you wouldn't force me to waste my time."

Skywarp looked happy enough to do just that. He spoke readily, "You have looked exhausted for weeks, no slash that, you _have_ been exhausted for weeks, even now I can feel your obvious strain. What lofty goal are you forcing upon yourself this time? It doesn't have anything to do with Megatron's arrival does it? I mean, not that I blame you, although Megatron actually tolerates you, so..."

On and on Skywarp talked, and TC let him. He felt slightly amused even as he angled his data pad back around so he could subtly continue what he had been doing before he was interrupted.

"You need to get out."

It took Thundercracker a moment to realize the blithering was cut off by a rather long pause, which had just been shattered by Warps spoken words.

"Not in the mood," Thundercracker replied evenly.

"When's the last time you had a good interfacing? I would say it has been a while, because you seem tense as well, or at least _that_ kind of tense." Skywarp smiled wide, a giddiness overtaking him as his words rushed forth. "Tell you what, I know this little place on Rhigor Seven, they have a pit filled with nothing but Energon and the best put together femmes you have seen."

"Don't let me stop you."

"That's it!" Skywarp slammed his hand down on the table which caused the few mechs that were there to look in the Seeker's direction. "We are going and we're going now." Scrambling forward he grabbed TC's data pad and threw it against the wall where it shattered. Warp's smile evolved into a devious grin. Thundercracker knew what was going to come next. He was less than surprised when the room he was in shifted. Light disappeared and then burst and shattered before his optics.

Skywarp just didn't know how to take no.

* * *

"Lord Skywarp sent me. Said I am to relax you."

So Thundercracker had a moderately decent time, even allowed himself a couple of high-grades as he gambled on the Rentar rats. Animals that were the size of human cars, with the intelligence of sparklings and the ability to turn what was should have been a simple race around a designated course, into an all out brutal fight as they fought to the end of the finish line.

"You know why they fight so hard?" Warp said at some point, shoving another high-grade his way, the two having just won again. "Because the winner gets to choose a female to mate with. Got to hand it to the operators, gives the creatures a reason to win, and them reproduction and multiplication of resources with minimal cost."

Optics coming on-line with his thoughts coming back to the present, he looked at the femme who just spoke. He had been relaxing just fine on his own, drifting in the buzz of the high-grade Energon as he flew contentedly along the edges of consciousness. Being interrupted was definitely not appreciated. And even if Skywarp had the uncanny ability of picking a femme that he probably would have himself, he was still not pleased.

The femme seemed to sense his displeasure. Stiffening, her optics grazed along his frame, boldly taking him in. She was well put together and knew it, and used to be looked at. She shifted along her dainty pediforms, lifting her frame upwards to allow Thundercracker to look her over as well.

Yes, femmes could be a rarity, but being a Seeker did have its advantages, and being an Elite, even more so. Not long ago he might have been enticed, but her sleek frame and too perfectly molded chassis, nor the bold way in which she stared at him, did absolutely nothing.

However, when she managed to step more directly into the light, his optics drew toward her again. Any coloring she could have been, the odds that she would be _that _shade of green was so astronomical, that he was still calculating the equation when she stepped closer to his berth.

She wasn't just some simple pleasure bot. Femmes, in their rarity had become more emboldened, some even allowing their mating protocols to dictate their purpose, as they, in their own way, fought to further their race. He couldn't say that the femme in front of him was exactly such an individual. The fact that she was wearing a Decepticon symbol along her slender shoulder plate meant there was more to the female than her appearance. Doing a quick search, he found her in his database, and while her importance was minimal, she was still a soldier just the same.

In the end, it had been Thundercracker, who initiated contact, TC, who brought the femme below him on the berth, her struggling enough for show as she rubbed suggestively along his frame. Her optics intently on his own, she whispered his name and honorific in appreciation. Taking her would have been simple, even normal to use the femme as he released all his pent-up frustration. Warp was right, using his wingmates words; he was that kind of tense.

But even if he did somewhat sate himself with the femme below him, being with her wouldn't take away the true temptation, nor, no matter what he did, could he get away from the enticement, not anymore. He had forced himself in too deep, the deception because of it, the addiction and strangeness of his actions, even as he acclimated so easily because it meant being near...

"Leave me," he said tersely. The ephemeral desire blew away, wafting along and out with the filtered air of the room. Rolling off the femme, she smartly wasted no words as she departed with haste.

He sat down on a nearby chair, wings spreading as he felt a burst of raw emotions from Skywarp. A pleasurable rush followed from his wingmate's own encounter that was going a lot further than Thundercracker himself allowed. Tensing, he had no recourse but to wait for it to end. Processor dipping away, his thoughts drifted back to Earth and the mystery of interest the planet now held.


	10. Confrontation

Walk, walk a lot more and then keep walking. Yes, she most certainly still had her goal in mind of reaching her home state and her brother. But despite how quickly she walked even ran or jogged; it seemed that she wasn't really getting anywhere.

They were lucky that day though. A trail of trees lined the road, offering a cool haven that they could travel through instead of the open cemented path.

Sensing something, Alexis let it pass. When she sensed it again, she knew her instincts, as ill honed as they were, but getting sharper every day, were trying to tell her something. And when Tim grabbed her hand and slowed her down as he leaned toward her casually and whispered into her ear, what she thought she was imagining became real.

"We are being followed. We have been for some time. I want you to count to three, Alexis, and then take off and run as fast as you can." Her eyes must have said it all because he squeezed her hand. "Do as I say. There can't be many of them. I'll block your retreat and then follow."

She nodded her head despite the need to do the opposite of what he said. Leave him? Her only friend and companion? She just couldn't.

"One... two... three!"

Tim pushed her and Alexis was forced to take off. Tugging tightly on her pack, she sprinted as fast as she could. Looking behind her shoulders every minute or so, she stopped when she realized Timothy was nowhere in sight. A selfish part of her wanted to continue, but she rarely listened to that one no matter what her circumstances. She gave herself a moment to regain some strength and headed back.

Alexis didn't expect to find what she came upon. Timothy was being held by some men with his nose bloodied, two guys still and unmoving at the bottom of his feet. Both looked as if they had run straight into an approaching car only she was very sure that car had been Tim.

They hadn't seen her yet, and she had just enough time to duck behind a large bush and take off her backpack to peer through the branches. They were pounding into him. Timothy said something in between that only made them angrier. One guy moved forward. The leader, by the way he held himself; his hand formed a fist only to crash against Timothy's jaw.

She didn't mean to yelp out, but she did. However, that wouldn't have stopped her from being discovered anyway. A large hippo sized man came from nowhere and grabbed her, lifting Alexis up as he dragged her to the others.

Timothy was angry at Alexis when he saw her, she saw that pretty well and understood why. But there was no way she could have just left him behind.

"I found someone, boss."

The arms that surrounded her were strong with muscles tight against her that were larger than she would have ever believed possible. The man holding onto Alexis could have crushed her, a simple little squeeze, and she would be done for. But because life likes to take one down as many strange paths as possible, she felt the arms loosen just enough that her ribs no longer felt the strain.

"I'm sorry about this."

Did the guy holding her just apologized to her? No, Alexis' ears weren't deceiving her. He most certainly had and with true remorse in his words.

"Then let me go, please," she whispered back.

He didn't reply only pushed her forward. She saw eight people there, two girls hanging back and sitting on two of six motorcycles. Her questions took off on a different path. How did they get the vehicles to work? How did they use them without being discovered?

"Who are you?"

One of the men stepped forward, a lanky guy with the brightest red hair, the thick strands pulled back into a long ponytail. She almost smiled when she saw the bruising along his cheek and the cut along his neck.

Alexis readily answered, "A human, just like you. Why are you treating him like that? Let him go," she demanded.

The redhead shook his head and frowned deeply. "After he attacked us? After he downed Roddy and Don just for asking for some water?"

Alexis looked over at Tim, seeking the truth but not finding any. She saw the blood that soaked his shirt, the bruised eye, the defiance yet that hung along his limbs while his good eye darted back and forth as he looked for an opening, still ready to go at it.

"He wouldn't just attack without cause," she argued. Alexis was still getting to know Timothy, but knew he didn't do anything without provocation.

"Are you calling me a liar?"

Again, she found everyone's attention falling on her, including the two men who were restraining Tim. Soon enough, their gaze went elsewhere when the redhead turned and belted Timothy in the stomach who doubled over.

"Stop!" she screamed. Arms crushed her back and away, lifting her up and pulling back as she tried desperately to get loose.

"It's a perilous world right now. A dog eats dog world. You want to survive, girl? You're going to need a lot more than this... _boy_," the leader snarled, his dark eyes dancing with contempt.

Tim was not a boy. He was a couple of years older than Alexis, being twenty-three. Of course, for whatever reason, she took offense.

The redhead came back toward her again. This time so close she felt his hot breath against her cheek. His breath smelled of smoke and cigars and the underlining scent of alcohol. However, his eyes were clear while his hands were steady. He reached toward her, ripping the cap off Alexis' head and stepping back as he looked her over. His fingers curled in her now loose hair.

A struggle took place. Timothy yelled at the man to let her go. He obviously got loose, for the redhead suddenly went flying. Tim jumped on him as a tussle unlike any Alexis had ever seen up close began.

Everyone distracted and the grip on her as lax as ever, she reached into her pack, hands finding and fingers clenching around the weapon that had been provided. Out it came, the instructions she had gone over more than a couple of times came into her mind's eye. Immediately, the weapon hummed to life. Aiming the gun, it discharged on a nearby tree, the poor piece of defenseless nature bursting into flames.

The grip on her disappeared, and the large man backed away from her, uncertain, but curiously not scared. Aiming at him, she motioned for the man to back even further up before lowing the weapon down on the ground.

"Get off of him!" she shouted. A firmness laced her voice that if she wasn't so preoccupied with what was going on, she would have been proud of. "Now!"

Away and back the men went. They stared at the gun in her hand as if it was all they saw.

"Look at that," one of them said, "that isn't an earth-based weapon... they must... they must work with the Decepticons."

That got them going. For the first time in her life, Alexis knew what it was to inspire fear. She could have reveled in the feeling and got off on the sense of power, but she was far too sensible for such a thing. However, she did identify the pleasure in such an ability.

"Go away," she said simply. But that was all it took; the men got down to help their unconscious comrades.

"Leave them, come back for them later," Timothy yelled out. He came up beside her, easily taking the weapon out of her trembling hands and then steadily aiming the gun at the people.

Heading toward their bikes, Timothy shook his head adamantly. Motioning for the two women to get out of the way, he squeezed the trigger and then again, killing all the bikes on the spot except for one.

The men and women ran away in a wild panic. Timothy turned to her, astonished and disappointed. The gun Alexis had never told him about was handed back to her with questions resounding in his gaze. But she would have to answer them later.

Making sure he was relatively okay, she assisted him on the one bike that had not been destroyed. Alexis was suddenly grateful for all those weekends she had spent dirt bike riding with her brother near their home. Collecting their stuff and settling down on the thing, it was easy enough to figure the thing out as she brought its engine to life.

Timothy's hand tightened around her waist as they took off.

* * *

"Can you walk?"

Timothy nodded his head. Alexis assisted him off the bike and then gave him a side glance. His left eye was now totally shut, forming into one large purple bruise. Settling him down and getting out the first-aid kit, she did as much as she was able. Where she stopped had a purpose behind it.

"Stay here for a second," she gently ordered.

"Believe me. I am not going to argue."

Setting him down, she went toward the motel. Of course, the doors were locked. Going into the empty office, she quickly spotted some keys. Finding one with a number on it that she had already passed on the way, Alexis grabbed it. She unlocked the room and went to the bathroom. Alexis was relieved to find that the shower worked.

Going back to Timothy, Alexis dragged him to the small motel room.

"We need to get you cleaned up."

Helping him into the shower, she located a washcloth. Fortunately, there was a small area for Timothy to sit down on. Alexis got on her knees and scooted closer so she could have better access to clean him. He hissed and moaned, but didn't complain. The blood cleaned off him and ran slowly down the drain, revealing the hell he had gone through. She didn't understand how anyone could go through what he had and still be conscious.

"Soldier boy had quite the beating," she joked lightly while trying to soften the predicament that they had gotten into.

There was no reply to that. When she looked back, Alexis realized he had been silent through most of the treatment with his one good eye heavily upon her.

"We should probably get your shirt off."

He stood begrudgingly at that before leaning heavily against the wall of the shower. She started to help him, forced to push gently into his body as she did so. Alexis felt something odd. Tim gasped as he backed away, color falling out of his cheeks while he tugged the bottom of the shirt out of Alexis' hold.

"I can take my own clothes off. I... can finish up," he told her with a strained voice as he hastily dismissed Alexis.

She left the first aid bag behind and shut the door. Alexis felt her own skin flush at his choice of words. Everything she had just done took on an entirely different perspective that seemed to have crept upon her. Alexis suddenly understood what that strangeness of his was that had brushed across her. Living with her brother, she had learned certain things about guys. And perhaps because she did have a brother, she didn't think as much about stepping into a running shower with a guy as she tried to help him as she would have her own brother.

She felt embarrassed from her just made revelation. Leaving the motel room while trying not to think about what had occurred, she focused on the task of finding a towel to dry herself off with.


	11. Upper-hand

Starscream never needed much of a reason to act as he saw fit. So, entering Thundercracker's quarters without permission was not an entirely odd thing. Immediately irked when he found his actions producing no result, he continued on his quest to find his wingmate. Starscream noticed before the doors slid shut on his trinemate's quarters that they appeared to not have been used for some time.

He opened his link and made an inquiry. "W_arp, where the slag is Thundercracker?"_

By the untimely response rate, the overly articulated words, and the feel of Warp's exasperation, Starscream knew he had interrupted a charging cycle.

_"I don't know. Why ask me when you can find out exactly yourself, we aren't trinemate's for nothing," _he said sarcastically.

"_He turned his location signal off_."

"_So I now feel. Well, just don't ask me to help you..."_

Starscream interrupted, _"I don't require your assistance."_

_"Good, then don't hold it against me when I filter this link."_

Typical Skywarp.

He rounded a corner and passed a couple of mechs. Starscream momentarily considered recruiting them for his task, but quickly dismissed the idea; they would only get in the way. He could have gone to Warp's quarters and forced him up and gotten pleasure out of disturbing him, but he wasn't in the mood, neither for the complaining that surely would have followed, nor the buoyant manner in which Skywarp would have tackled the job. Starscream didn't need the added frustration right now.

Doing a visual scan of the base, he eliminated one room and then another, rounding his way to the southern compound as he made his way to the storage areas. Starscream didn't know why, when one of the storage unit doors slid open, he felt the need to shoot past a corner as he hid himself, but he did. Peering around the wall, he saw Thundercracker walking out, a sharp snap following that indicated a locking mechanism was activated.

Storage compartments didn't have locks. There was no need. Nothing of any vital importance was contained within them.

Starscream waited where he was for some time, several hours passing until finally and with due certainty, he felt Thundercracker slip into recharge. He hadn't sought this and didn't need it. All he wanted was an updated report about the west quadrant. Yes, it wasn't due until the following cycle, but he knew with the way TC was that he had probably finished it some time ago. And Starscream needed the information because Megatron was visiting soon. Deep-rooted anger spilled into his mainframe, uneasiness there as well as Starscream thought of his Master's arrival. While he _was_ anticipating the event, he most certainly was _not_ looking forward to it.

And now here he was distracted and trying to break into a storage room. Yes, he could have let it go. After all, he supposed, or perhaps vaguely considered, that everyone deserved some kind of privacy. That thought was quickly dispelled and washed away. Starscream did not have room for secrets, not when he had so much he wanted to accomplish and obtain. And nothing, not secrets, nor oddities, nor locked rooms were going to stop him from reaching his ultimate goal. The only one that dominated his matrix not long after he had entered Megatron's service.

It took some time for the Supreme Air Commander to break into the room, especially when he was forced to keep the locking subroutines intact. He did not believe anyone needed to know he had been there.

He expected what he found to be more interesting than wall after wall of supplies and equipment. However, he was disappointed, at least at first.

It only took Starscream ten paces before his sensors picked up the anomalous energy reading. The hum of the powerful equipment gained his attention, as did, after scanning more deeply, the field that surrounded the room that blocked the emissions from escaping outside the walls he was within.

When the Seeker walked into the back room, figuring out what he was now looking at took all of twelve nano-clicks. Understanding its function was something that took a more personal examination.

What in the name of Primus did Thundercracker need a holo-generator for? However, not just any holo-generator, one that was built to be accessed remotely, and obviously possessing the ability of being away from its host across great distances.

Sitting down before the console, a monitor flickered on before the Seeker, immediately asking for an access code.

He inputted the most logical choice, but it was rejected. That was all it took for Starscream to be locked out of the system. Acting quickly, he reached underneath and pulled off a panel before ripping out the yellow cabling as he halted the alarm that would have alerted his wingmate.

Satisfied that he stopped it in time, he employed more devious methods to open up the console to him. Using an approach that he had not used since his Academy days. Doing such an inane, rather insignificant thing such as breaking into another's terminal was never on his list of things to do that day.

Finally, security firewalls bypassed, he began working on the encryption. Starscream found out that TC was as excessive as ever, the layers that had been applied rather severe even for him. Which meant, whatever was underneath it all was something he most certainly didn't want seen.

Exasperated and nearly fed up, the screen blinked out and faded away. Cursing, he slammed his fist down. The screen came back on-line with necessary files decrypted and secrets reveled.

First, all Starscream felt was the betrayal. Then he felt defiled by association and disgusted by the obvious deception that was used to even do such a thing. It was an abomination, unnatural for his wingmate to go to such extremes.

Despite the disgust and him knowing how perverse and twisted it was; his curiosity would not be sated until he activated the device for himself. To create such a thing for Intel was one thing; however, to do it for personal interaction was another. Starscream needed to know why Thundercracker felt inclined to be human, and why he felt the need to interact directly with any of them.

Tubules released from his wrist guards, he connected with the machine. His consciousness jumped into a burst of life before settling in a warm, solid body.

Starscream opened his fleshy eyes.

* * *

He was in pain. It wasn't exactly acute, nonetheless; he felt it. Especially when trying to open the lids that were over his visual oculars, he found only one would budge. But it was all that he needed, all that he required to see the depths of Thundercracker's betrayal and the very reason for it.

For it, no _she_ was sleeping only five feet away.

The human Alexis.

Even before Starscream adjusted to the muted way of seeing things, he knew it was the girl. She shifted awake when sensing his movement. She came to him and hovered. With her as close as she was there was no room for doubt in his mind.

"Are you okay, Timothy?"

His head ached. His body was sore while other strange pangs shifted under his eyes. The realistic sensations took a moment to process and order. Finding a subroutine he realized he could turn the harsh sensations off. But he decided to leave it on. Pain or not, it would make sure he acted as he needed to while he tried to adjust to the situation and the borrowed human form.

"Timothy? Do you need more ibuprofen? Some water perhaps?"

Timothy? How would Thundercracker have even thought of such a designation? Starscream bypassed those questions, satisfied for now that he wasn't the only one being deceived.

"I... I am fine."

How low and awkward his voice was, a vocalization that was entirely ineffective and devoid of strength. Before he could think of any further criticism, the human was touching his head before several fingers drifted carefully down his face.

He caught her hand stiffly in his own, not expecting someone to touch him so boldly. However, he wasn't Supreme Air Commander Starscream anymore was he? Wasn't even a Con. He was just an insignificant human replicant that... by Primus, inhaling, Starscream caught her scent. The beguiling smell drifted up his nostrils. The shadows shifted and moved from her face as the moon overhead glided away from the clouds.

Alexis' mouth was set in a frown with concern in her eyes that boasted of acquired familiarity between the two. She was luminescent, entirely exotic and so very close. Her hair was loose and flowing past her shoulders, stray follicles brushing against his arm.

Once more, light twisted and fell away before dropping them in the shadows. And yet he felt her more than ever. Her knee was pushing against his outer thigh, those breaths of hers making Alexis' chest rise and fall, forcing his attention along the soft curved lines of her body. And he felt her hand still inside his own, the beating of her heart thumping strongly through her wrist.

Starscream was so entirely aware.

He dropped her hand, flinching at the sudden action as he shut his eye. His own heart was beating within, strumming inside its cavity and quickening as he realized her body was still lingering against his own. The disguised Seeker felt like a sparkling, not like the experienced Con that he was that had more than a few conquests. The flesh he was inside was weak and vulnerable and making him feel the same.

"Are you still in pain?"

That voice of hers crawled against his flesh, hair rising along his arms from the soft murmur of the tone.

He shook his head, unwilling to communicate any further than he needed to, unwilling to make any slip that would reveal him for who he was.

"And there is nothing I can do?" Alexis asked.

Starscream shook his head yet again, a smirk trying to form that he barely withdrew. Her frown deepened. When she got up, the warmth left the side of his body. He watched as she rolled up some material before picking it up along with other items. Alexis then unrolled it closer to him before sitting on it. She pushed a leg forward, head lowering down to her left knee.

"I am so sorry about this," she breathed out.

Sorry? Why was she sorry? Unless the pain he was feeling along with the bruising and gashes that he felt were her doing. Just what was Thundercracker playing at, just what was he...

She lifted her head, smiling at him as she bit her lip. Her attention was focused on him, yet thoughts far away, a strange look in her eyes that faded away too quickly.

"Alexis..." Starscream didn't know he said her name until the simple word was out of his mouth. He pushed his luck and continued, "Come here."

Brows rising, she came to him and settled once more by his side. He was astounded by how easy it was and how willing she was to do as he commanded.

She touched his shoulder while her mouth moved, and yet he didn't hear the words, barely felt the contact as the connection he made started to break up as he tumbled away. He fought against it, but it did no good as latent security measures activated, shutting the program down and him out.

Starscream found himself back in his real body with wings tensed high. He knew he had some more work to do. One of the functions of the programming was to fill in and adapt when Thundercracker himself wasn't inside it. Recordings were also taken during those times so that Thundercracker was prepared for his next encounter. Starscream needed to know exactly what kind of relationship TC achieved with the human. Had to know what the two of them had done and where she was. If only he had paid more attention to the surroundings, although he vaguely remembered seeing some sort of building in the background that was surrounded by overgrown patches of grass and a sign high above with an illegible name on it half faded. The holo-generator's matrix scrambled the location, another security preventative by his always perspicacious wingmate.

Of course though, when it came down to it, what the two were doing hardly mattered. For he had discovered something about his trinemate, something that could be stored away and kept and then one day used. In what manner or for what purpose Starscream was not sure of yet, even if the result could only lead to one thing: an outcome that benefit him. One he would also make sure led him to the acquiring of the femme.

For he wanted her even more than he did before.


	12. Reverie

Sometimes she would look at him in that carefully precise manner of hers, and in that moment, Thundercracker was sure Alexis knew exactly who he was. Trying to pass one's self off as a human was entirely more complicated than the Seeker ever imagined.

For one, he could not be in the form at all times, which meant he had to create a subroutine that not only monitored what was going on when he was not there, but was capable of reacting and responding, and adapting to whatever circumstances arose.

Thundercracker did a lot of research. Soaking in the phrases and the way that the humans spoke, watching visual data to know how they moved and interacted, even more information that he felt was pertinent.

Of course, everything he learned went straight to the pit the moment Alexis found him. For nothing could have prepared him for the unfathomable wonder and fascination when TC found himself on her level. Smells were different; touches were more pliable, glances and looks more readable. But with the benefits came complications as well. The unfamiliarity ready to expose him at any moment as he tried to maintain the human Timothy and what he was supposed to represent.

He never really believed Alexis would truly accept him. Yes, there had been clear mistrust when they first came together, but now after weeks of traveling together, the gap had faded into the background while opening a level of intimacy.

TC never expected to obtain her friendship.

That was never part of the plan or even the reason he had to be with her. But now with experiencing it and seeing the trust she offered as she expected nothing in return, even as he knew nothing would break it, nothing except himself. For as much as he wanted to believe it sometimes, he was not the human male nor the Timothy that Alexis put her trust in.

Being together, day in day out and then weeks, he quickly learned things about the human. He spent as much time with her as he could. The loathing of taking on such a form easily bypassed and forgotten as time went on.

He remembered the first time she opened up to him. Remembered her hand in his and the two of them on a soft mattress, her knee near his leg, her voice a murmur as she told him, or that is Timothy, of what had happened to her on the Decepticon base.

Much was omitted, but it had been the start of a change between the two of them. The beginning of something that was progressing and growing into more than Thundercracker had ever imagined.

He started to see humans differently. His outlook on the world and its inhabits shifting minutely until one day the revelation came to Thundercracker that they were nothing like the propaganda that Megatron had forced them to believe. And that was when not only did his curiosity grow, but a seed of dissent as well. Of course, he would have been a fool to believe everything his master said, and yet, somehow, learning and finding out for himself how things truly were, made his discovery more relevant.

TC's thoughts of discontent from their purpose on the planet were forgotten though. The awareness of his change of outlook on the inhabitants, not something he was entirely aware of, even if his actions sometimes spoke otherwise.

But his interest shifted into other realms. And when he bypassed recharging time so that he could be with her, put off duties he always did early so he could see her, he fathomed that perhaps he had become too efficient and accountable, especially when time was suddenly something he needed more of.

It was freeing to relearn what spontaneity was. To rid himself of schedules as he suddenly did things as he needed, not because it was on the list of things to do.

Monotony murdered, a part of him reawakened.

* * *

Thundercracker could have killed the humans that threatened Alexis and him that day, and had left the option open, but in the end him being beat and pummeled led to something he would come to appreciate: the acquiring of one motorcycle.

He felt that a little when they made their escape. Alexis helping him off the thing and leading him into a motel room before ushering him into a shower, it would be some time before that thought came back into his processor, as other more worthy ones took their place.

The water was cold. His bruises and cuts stung, but that faded when his gaze drifted. Alexis' shirt clung and dipped to her body with the left shoulder exposed. Water trickled down through her hair and flowed softly on the flesh of her neck. His blood that had gotten on her, seeped under the liquid, spreading out on her shirt before fading away, small discolored blotches left behind. He was enthralled. His heart accelerated as she brushed across his flesh while cleaning off the evidence of violence. A warmth ignited as she rounded the cloth over his bruised knuckles. Alexis stepped closer as he caught her scent and felt her knee against his outer leg, felt her body leaning against him as something strange and new occurred.

At first, Thundercracker was little aware of what it meant. However, when she reached in and tugged at his shirt, fingers brushing over the naked flesh of his stomach while a little huff of air blew hot against his shoulder, the tension deepened further. The subtle pleasure spiking into desire, he experienced human arousal for the first time.

Stunned and overwhelmed, his body continually changed as it adapted to the stimulation of the girl. But he didn't really know how humans came together. And while, already in his processor he had worked out more than a few ways to appreciate her small body as a Cybertronian, the thought of giving into the needs of the human male body made him uneasy.

Getting rid of the human, he had to stay in the shower for some time before he got his body back under control. Yet now knowing what it could do, and how it could react and betray his deepest thoughts, he questioned how the average male dealt with such things.

They stayed near the motel for three days, for that was how long it took his body to heal well enough for travel. Alexis looked after him, sleeping on a neighboring sleeping bag. She acted like nothing happened in the shower, although he would catch her looking at him sometimes with a sense of confusion, that fading away after they left the vicinity of the motel.

And that was when he became truly aware of the benefit of having only one motorcycle. Getting fragged by the humans had been worth it to have her so close to him and all the time. It didn't matter if he operated the vehicle or Alexis, either way the inevitably of their bodies touching was at an all-time high.

"Your eye looks much better today." Alexis smiled at him. Granola bar brought up; she took a large bite before washing it down with a gulp of water.

They were both resting under a tree, leaning against it while they consumed their food. Thundercracker found he would never get tired looking at her, even now, with her hair unkempt from riding the bike so long and her clothes disheveled with a line of dirt under her left eye.

"Perhaps you should ration your food a little more. We may not reach another town today," he cautioned.

Alexis shrugged her shoulders. Wrapping the rest of the bar into its wrapper, she pocketed it. Standing, she stretched, shoulders pulled back with her chest rising high.

"How much longer today?" she inquired.

"A couple more hours and we can find a place to settle for the night."

She smiled wide. Ever since they had obtained the motorcycle, Alexis' mood lifted drastically. Her hope was now so clear that had he truly been Timothy, sharing along with her problems and the worries of the world; he would have surely felt the importance of obtaining such a mode of transport.

"Timothy?"

He stood, picking up Alexis' water bottle he handed it to her. Their fingers brushed; his pseudo life organ jumped into gear.

She went on, "You really think we will be back in Wisconsin before the week is over?"

"If we keep to the schedule."

The smile erupted into a grin. Her spontaneity came into play as suddenly and without any warning she moved forward before grabbing him into a quick hug.

"Then I will see my brother in no time!" She walked away, settling onto the bike where she adjusted her jacket and put away her things. TC came up behind Alexis, grateful that she could not see that prominent frown on his face. Thundercracker was learning that human emotions were not so easy to hide, but he would become the master of them yet.

"Alexis?"

"Huh?" She looked over her shoulder, the excitement still dancing in her eyes.

"The next town we look for helmets and protective eye-wear."

She nodded her head and readily agreed. "OK."

* * *

"You better sleep with me tonight. It looks like it's about to rain."

An unaccustomed nervous feeling tingled along TC's spine. His eyes fell on the girl before him as she finished adjusting the spikes of the tent.

They had slept near each other before, in motel rooms and in the middle of forests, abandoned homes and even a trailer home. But never had he shared the tent with her. He had always stayed outside while watching and guarding. He had no need for human comforts or protocols, but apparently sleeping outside in the rain was something a human didn't do.

Alexis was becoming comfortable with him, or perhaps just accustomed. Either way, she was not as embarrassed about sharing such a small space with him. There was a time when Timothy even sleeping three feet away would have made her uncomfortable.

She went inside first, leaving the flap open as an invitation. Just why was he hesitating? Perhaps because it was her tent and her sleeping arrangement, her portable dwelling. She was the one to come upon it when they had gathered food in a grocery store. But it was the first time she had offered to share it. Although when they first found it, she had been ready to give it to him.

Thundercracker waited for the human to fall asleep before he entered. Five minutes later it was raining, a downpour of wetness that cascaded and pummeled against the small enclosure. Lying on the sleeping bag that she had laid out for him, he stared down at the dark form beside him. Small bursts of lightning reveled Alexis as he watched her sleep tranquilly even while the world raged outside in fits of stormy weather.

Thundercracker could have just reached out and he would have touched her face, could have moved a foot and would have touched her leg.

He didn't.

Wind picked up while the rain pushed through the opening of the tent. Thundercracker had been so focused on entering, he forgot to close the flap. Zipping it shut, he returned to where he had been. TC remained where he was until the storm died and the night faded, the darkness pushed back as light took its place, a stillness all around before nature sounded off.

As Alexis woke and her eyes found his, that newness and innocence of what the day may offer him came into focus. Thundercracker was beset by deep melancholy. For as tangible as it all felt, it was all only an illusion, one that was becoming too real.


	13. Closer

Happiness was a word that had long abandoned Alexis. Something that while not elusive had turned into an eventuality that her logical mind could not afford to cling to. But happiness, along with many other bright and cheerful things, shattered along with her world. The remains of it bound together with all her other light filled thoughts as it turned into the very basis of her hope.

One didn't need happiness if they had hope. And happiness in its very nature, was it not fleeting? Was it not something that occurred unaware until during a time of darkness and despair suddenly was recalled as a time of great contentment? Or perhaps it was just something that wasn't really thought about, something that one dismissed readily, for life, such as it now was, was too busy to be bothered about contemplating one's state of being.

She had found comfort in her family, in her God and in her life. Alexis had been happy when she finally graduated High School. Taking a year off from school she traveled some, using the money that had taken her three years of working for a local craft shop. She splurged a little as she experienced life at a different angle. Alexis remembered how somber she had felt when she returned. A part of her did not want to stop the travels. Not even when she ran out of money that had actually lasted two weeks past her own expectations.

Her brother, Josh, was starting his second year of college, studying hard while focusing on his goal of hand. When he had been young, he wanted to be a firefighter and later a doctor. But he discovered that he had a natural affinity for people, for helping and giving and just being there for another. That mixed with his passion for Christ, had led him to want to be a preacher. That changing once more as he decided on being a missionary. His love for languages and different cultures cemented his decision. Their parents relieved that one child was now set; they focused on their daughter.

But Alexis had drifted away as she longed to be on her own. Money gone and her job not something she wanted to go back to, she was forced to remain living at home. The space suddenly feeling confining as her future seemed to circle around her.

Had she been content then? She had been. Despite her parents desire for her to do something with her life, she managed to find those moments of stillness. Such a peace of just lying there and looking up at the ceiling as problems drifted and faded, leaving her open to possibilities that despite their loftiness, made her feel like she could achieve them.

Not that she ever got a chance.

Where would she have been if Josh hadn't been home during a week long break from College? And to think she had been so frustrated because her peace was broken. Because that feeling of living on her own had been taken away when he returned, for her parents had been visiting her grandmother, and she had the house all to herself.

But Josh had always been a busy person, and even home on break; his activities were endless, leaving Alexis with plenty of time to be on her own. High school done with, she kept in touch with some of her friends. However, a year could be quite a gap, and when she returned from her trip, things were destined to never being the same.

The last television broadcast she was ever to see, would be one that stayed with Alexis. It still managed to pop up here in there in an innocent blink of the eye. Flashes of the blood bath pouring forth, while even in its digital broadcasted state, left an impression that would never fade.

There was no warning that Alexis could recall. But the panic of the surrounding events was certainly there and the circumstances following the invasion remembered. All the world leaders were cattled into a large, unknown field before a booming voice dictated humanity's terms.

Surrender or die.

And then the sounds began, the horrible grinding and popping as unfamiliar weapons fired. There was no forgiving smoke to hide the carnage, just a clear view of bodies falling. The nation's leaders were killed without remorse or regard, until finally, eyes wide open and unable to look away, the TV's signal flashed out and died, leaving the shocking sound of dead air.

It was Josh that had immediately tried to use the phone, but it refused to work. It was she who had tried the Internet only to get the dreaded web page is not available, signaling its inability to connect.

After that it was like living in a world of shadows and paranoia. Being left with no means of news had a person's brain working on overtime. And after most of the neighborhood had cleared out, the two siblings questioned if they should do the same.

"I have prayed long and hard about this, Lex. We obviously can't remain here. It only took them a couple of days to round up our leaders, how long do you think it will take for them to take care of us?"

Alexis had prayed as well, but it almost didn't seem real. And she wanted to put down what had happened on television as just another show that had content on it that she couldn't believe was even allowed to be shown.

Less than twenty-four hours was all it took before they decided to leave. The stillness of the neighborhood had turned unsettling and fear building. Left with no power, their car was stranded in the garage. Taking what they could, they started off on foot, their destination unknown. But it was better than waiting for those robotic things to come to them.

The next day was when they came upon the abandoned cars. Some people were still lingering near them as they explained that somehow the vehicles had been rendered useless. It was two days after that, with aching feet and growing blisters, that they came upon the leftovers of a one-sided attack. Even as her brother had forced Alexis to look away, she managed to catch glimpses of it, death so close and stinging in the air.

Her brother had tried to leave her behind as he checked for survivors, but she couldn't stay where he left her. Despite his previous precautions, instead of being close to death, Alexis was surrounded by it. She was shocked by the brutality and finality of it all, tears falling helplessly down her cheeks as she continually wiped her eyes.

When they found that none were left alive, they were forced to move on. Ominous sounds behind the two gave them no time except for a quick prayer for the dead.

She had cried almost all night, her brother holding on to her tight as he too relinquished some tears. Alexis had wanted to throw up, to go back and at least bury those people, do something other than leave them as the charred, bloodied and broken departed that they were.

Waking up the next morning and finding herself in unfamiliar surroundings once again, it was to be a recurring event as days turned into weeks, turned into months, turned into a long stretch of a year. They didn't come across another scene like they had at the beginning, but the nature of man and the uncertainty of the unknown, led them to encounters among their own species that were both terrifying and disturbing.

They learned quickly enough that not only did they need to avoid the great behemoths of what they finally learned were Decepticons, but most of their own species as well. Fortunately, an instinct seemed to awaken as it became almost second nature that on glance alone they could determine if the person they were coming across was someone safe, or a danger that needed to be avoiding.

And still, Alexis blamed herself for her capture and the separation from her brother. For there had been that warning in the pit of her belly when they met the kid, but she ignored it. But how was she to know that a young person such as that boy, or anyone of any age, would ever, no matter what the reason, willing work for the invading force of Earth.

But she knew her brother, and knew he wouldn't blame her. As hard as times were, there were worse things to one's downfall than an act of kindness. Yet those reassuring words she told herself, did not soothe the ache of separation from her brother.

Meeting Timothy, however, changed things once more. She depended on him, trusted him, and after the many months, accustomed herself to his company, even longed for it.

And now here she was, clinging to the man before her, the two racing forward on a stolen bike, as with great anticipation, they passed over the invisible line of a border as they made their way into Wisconsin.

Soon enough she would be reunited with her brother. And then happiness, Alexis was sure, was something she would re-familiarize herself with.

* * *

They had been searching for over a week. And despite herself, the hope Alexis held onto over all the months, was starting to strangle her with every place they looked and did not find her brother. The company of Timothy only served to somehow punish her as she struggled to remain calm.

"Are you sure he would return to your home state? He could have gone looking for your parents."

Alexis stared at Timothy, eyes drifting down to the ground as she clawed hard at the dirt below her feet. It would be dark soon, hence the reason of them stopping for the day. Tomorrow they would finally be able to reach her home, a place she was sure, no matter what she wanted to believe, probably wasn't even standing anymore. The burnt and destroyed homes and buildings they had passed along the way, leading her to that conclusion.

Of course, they saw destruction during their travels. But seeing it in familiar surroundings only seemed to make it that much more pronounced, rubble and decay of abandonment and destruction depressing as it was stifling.

"We always made a promise, if we were ever separated, we would be at one of four places. And we would make sure to leave a note, or something, anything that would lead us to the other."

"Perhaps, you have been away too long. We have already searched three places and nothing."

Timothy's statement of the obvious had her stiffening with a firm resolve, an impatience and disappointment coloring her words.

"I know that. I was _there_ remember?"

He blinked hard at her words, staring at her openly as he examined her with intent. Alexis bristled, somehow knowing she wasn't going to like what he was about to say. But after opening his mouth, Tim shut it down with determination, and that was when she knew she was going to be spared.

"I'm sorry."

Several long minutes later was when she heard those words of his. There was a strangeness to his utterance that had Alexis drawing away from her thoughts as she stared at her traveling companion. The two words, for whatever reason, had been difficult for him to say. As if speaking them was beyond what he was used to, even as Timothy's soft tone had an urgency and truth behind it that bellied his uncertainty.

Her mouth quivered while her eyes filled with liquid. Getting to her feet, Alexis moved away from the front of her tent before sitting down with Timothy, who sat near the front of the motorcycle. She leaned against his shoulder. He stiffened and then relaxed. His fingers slowly, awkwardly brushed against her own before he pulled back and looked away.

"It's okay to cry, if you want. I understand," he let her know in a small whisper.

Alexis wiped off her eyes, angling her head to get a better look at Tim. He felt safe. Like she felt when she was with her brother, except different somehow. She was pretty miserable when she had been alone, all that changing when she met him. From the start, there was a connection between them. She felt it. A familiarity there as if he knew her somehow. At first, it made her feel exposed, and she resented it. But as time passed, she drew comfort from it, strength coming from their friendship.

"Don't you want to find your family?" Alexis inquired. She was so selfish, only thinking of herself. During all the time of their traveling together, and it wasn't until then that she thought to pursue the subject further.

"No."

The precise nature of his tone was enough of a warning, but she foolishly ignored it.

"You never talk about them, were they... I mean..."

He interrupted, "No."

"Then what about..." Alexis tried to probe further.

"Stop," he demanded. "Please accept that I do not want to talk about it, and leave it alone."

She sat up and moved away. A flash of regret passed over his face. His hand arched forward as he pulled her back down near him. Alexis heaved in a tight breath, color building in her cheeks when he didn't let go. His thumb idly drifted over the back of her palm.

"My brothers are..." he began before stopping abruptly. Alexis looked up at him with encouragement. He continued, "We have always had different views on things, and ever since the attack on Earth, well, let's just say that gap has widened. Even right now they are probably out their fighting and killing."

"So they are soldiers like you?"

"Yes, since as long as I can remember."

When Alexis suddenly laughed, Tim's touch upon her stopped.

"I'm sorry. It's just... the way you said that. You are only twenty-three, Timothy. You make it sound like it's been a couple of centuries."

"Time can lose meaning when one is thrust in the middle of war," he rasped.

"Where are they now?"

Alexis really didn't think he was going to reply, but after several long moments, he turned to her, a dull frown on his mouth.

"Not here with me."

There was a curious lilt to his tone, but she had spent enough time with him to know that the topic of conversation had reached his limit. Of course, she was curious. She didn't even know he had brothers. He never spoke much about anything personal, and when he did it was all rather evasive and clouded.

Strange that she didn't really notice until now. But thinking of her brother made Alexis think of his family and of his past. He was a soldier after all, traveling with her and staying with her, wasn't that hindering him from whatever he had been trying to achieve before?

Frowning, not wanting to say it, but knowing she needed to, Alexis spoke, "You don't have to stay with me. I mean... once I find my brother. I know you must have things to get back to."

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the look of hurt in his eyes. A defeated sort of expression followed that he hid quickly with a frown.

"Do you tire of my company?" he asked tightly, watching her closely.

"No, and I can't tell you how much.. how much you have meant to me. I don't know what I would have done without you." And Alexis didn't know what she was going to do when they did eventually separate. A thought she decided, for now, she could continue to avoid.

"You would have survived. You would have found your brother. You don't need me." There was resentment and bitterness in his words. Something else as well that had Tim pushing her away as he stood, heavy steps taken away.

She sat there, back pressing hard into the rear tire of the motorcycle. The faint smell of rubber and metal drifted up towards her nostrils. Alexis stared at Timothy's shoes as she wondered what had caused such agitation.

"Timothy?" She bit her lip in uncertainty.

"Do you wish for me to leave you when you reunite with your brother?" he suddenly asked.

He could have worded that completely different. Could have struck brutally at her hard placed hope and even taken some of it away. Instead, he only added to it.

Alexis got up and moved toward him, stopping when his spine sharpened up at her approach. Placing a hand on his arm, Tim flinched but didn't turn around.

"I want you to do what you need to. I will understand." In time, she would understand. Alexis was starting to realize she had connected more with Timothy then she had anyone in a long time. Whether because of the circumstances her world was in, or just because, it made no matter.

Timothy ripped around. A flash of something hard appeared in his eyes as he reached out and then gripped to her elbows. "And what about what _you_ need? What you want? Don't you want me?" One of his hands fell off her arm and came to rest underneath her chin.

"Yes, I do," she whispered. "But I don't want you to feel forced to stay."

The intensity in his gray eyes faded away, his calm coming back into place as if a mask.

"For now, I shall remain by your side. Life would be... _different_ without you."

His hand dropped away from her chin, and Alexis was shocked when he folded her into a tight hug. Somewhere along the line things had started to change with Timothy. Alexis felt that in the way he held her, felt it in the bold tapping of his heart against her body. But that revelation was not a conscious one, nor something she dwelled on. Alexis' thoughts were on her brother and when she would see him again as she allowed herself to be held.


	14. Affliction

When they finally met up with Alexis' brother, it was not her sibling who caught Thundercracker's eye. It was his companion.

But before that meeting took place, it was the arrival at Alexis' home that held his attention. The look on her face when they discovered it still there, had sent a rather melancholy chill up his spine. A long night passed after their first day in her house, and it was due to Alexis' insistence that they dared to stay one more day.

Staying in her home was strangeness indeed. And for the first time since Thundercracker had started his little deception with the human, he began to wonder where he expected it all to lead, and just how far he was willing to intrude on her life.

More than he knew, he realized as Thundercracker spent his first night in her home, sitting on a velvety green sofa before getting up and wandering through her house freely. He took in the pictures, then small notes on the refrigerator before stilling before the back patio doors, blinds pushed aside as he stared out in the darkness.

The day that followed was a quiet affair. Alexis had been in a somber, ominous mood, and as such he kept his distance as she waited. When he started packing up their stuff was when she pleaded with him. Somehow managing to turn his mind totally around as Thundercracker found himself agreeing to stay there one more night. They had not been in danger anyway, in fact, there were no Decepticons nearby, but there was no way he would have ever revealed that knowledge.

Alexis had a fitful night's sleep. He could tell by the way she paced her room before crashing on her bed, only to start the sequence of activities all over again. TC had not been able to see her, but he heard her movement with clarity.

The third day Alexis did not argue as they made their way outside. Leaving her house behind, her head turned and looked at it until they drove out of view.

An hour later was when they stumbled upon her brother. Or to be more precise, a bright yellow Lamborghini that came out of nowhere, blocking their path as Thundercracker barely had time to stop the bike, it turning and twisting as they came to an unsettling stop.

The tension that was working up his shoulders only grew when Alexis jumped off the bike and ran to the car as two men got out of it. One whom she ran up to eagerly, her body hastily grabbing onto and holding tight as she began to sob.

While Alexis reunited with her brother, Thundercracker was preoccupied with the person who had been driving. For he knew immediately that he was not human, more than that knew he was an Autobot.

The two locked gazes. After a rather dull inspection of Timothy's self, the Autobot diverted his gaze, one that easily fell upon the siblings as he watched, a finely sculpted brow lifting.

"Alexis, I want you to meet Sunny. Sunny, this is my sister, Alexis."

Alexis withdrew from her brother's embrace, smiling uncertainly at her brother's companion.

"I have so much to tell you, Alexis! But first, you should probably tell me who this is." Josh motioned toward TC.

Introductions were made. The three men and one girl exchanged glances until the decision was made that they should probably get moving.

* * *

After making camp for the night, Thundercracker sat with his back leaning heavily against a tree behind him. His eyes were steady upon the Autobot, who was busily cleaning and actually polishing the car, hands wandering over the yellow vehicle as he checked for scratches and dings.

He had already figured out which Autobot he was, and Sunny speaking of his twin to Alexis; Thundercracker placed him as Sunstreaker. The Autobot done with his inspection and cleaning, he sat down by the siblings. The three took off with a conversation that erupted into laughter and loud chuckling.

Thundercracker had never been an overly social individual. The only reason he was even there was Alexis. But it was a dark emotion that ignited within as he watched the exchange. He had Alexis to himself for quite a while and sharing her with anyone, did not settle well with him, nor did the fact that she was, however, unknowingly or not, cohorting with an Autobot.

And the human version of the Autobot already disgusted Thundercracker. He was far too perfect, far too preened, his features prominently perfect, his body evenly matched. Alexis was far too interested in her brother to notice, even as the Autobot seemingly did everything to try to get some kind of response out of her.

"And you trust this Timothy?"

Food eaten, the siblings were left alone. Even Thundercracker made a show of backing away as the two talked for a rather long time. He heard every word, and the proximity that the two were to the Autobot's alt mode; he knew the Autobot was picking everything up as well. Somehow, he was rather disappointed that it took so long for her brother to bring him up.

"With my life, Josh. You don't know what we have been through together, or where I would have ended up without him. Sunny seems... I mean that is..." Her voice drifted into an uncertain whisper.

Josh chuckled. "Yeah, he does take a little getting used to. And there is so much more to him than what you see." He paused, uncertain but excited. "I have something I have to show you, Alexis, something that I don't want you to freak out about." This is what Thundercracker had been waiting for. What he knew their entire conversation was leading to. The tension in the male sibling building until Josh could no longer hold the knowledge in.

Standing, Josh leaned down. A hand was offered to his sister as he pulled her up.

"Sunstreaker, I think she is ready to see you."

Nothing happened at first. But suddenly the vehicle came to life, shaking and vibrating. The hood lifted before twisting back, the car shifting and folding until a Cybertronian stood before them. With that, Sunny twinkled out and disappeared.

Alexis yelped and grabbed to her brother's arm as she pulled him back and away.

"I don't understand," Alexis spoke with confusion and a glimmer of fear. "You can't possibly be working for the Decepticons! Not after everything they have done!"

"He is one of the good guys."

She scoffed and violently shook her head. Finding Thundercracker's eyes upon her, she flinched before her gaze drifted to her backpack, obviously thinking of the weapon it contained.

"There is no such thing," she argued, tense and coiled and clearly unnerved. "And how you can even say that after everything we have been through, after everything we have seen?" Alexis demanded while pushing Josh roughly in the chest. The boy went flailing back on his feet a couple of steps at the force.

"He's an Autobot, not a Decepticon," Josh defended himself. Leaving his sister, he went to stand beside the Autobot. An act that had Alexis' eyes becoming large, her neck straining upwards as she spared the towering Cybertronian a passing, cautious glimpse. Her brother continued, "And I have seen him do amazing things over the last several months... helping, guarding protecting, even fighting for us humans. Believe me, he isn't one of them. So many things have happened. You have been gone for a while, Alexis."

Alexis was still shaking her head, her eyes once more wandering up and down the Autobot. Arms rising, they wrapped protectively across her chest, nails digging into the soft flesh of her arms.

"If you stare at me any further, you are going to strip off my paint, and it's not easy maintaining a shine such as this, let alone this color," the Autobot finally spoke.

Alexis' eyes widened. She turned to Thundercracker.

"Could this be possible, Tim? Did you ever hear of these Autobots?"

As Timothy he had not, and he said such. As Thundercracker, his analytical processor was stirring. He had no idea the Autobots had arrived, even if it was always inevitable. He wanted to know their numbers, but he already knew there weren't many, for they would have surely made themselves known by now.

"My brother and I were sent by Optimus Prime to..." the Autobot began to explain with gusto while not allowing any interruptions until the end.

* * *

Despite her brother's reassurances and the Autobot's rather long narrative, Alexis did not look relived. As such, it took her longer than usual to fall asleep that night. As soon as she did, Thundercracker activated his retrieval protocol, his consciousness drifting back into his real body as his frame vibrated dully, his digits tensing.

The Seeker was in a mild dilemma. He needed to let his trinemates know the Autobots were on Earth. But he needed to do it in such a manner that his source of information was not revealed. Ready to deliberate the problem, his monitor blinked on-line; a small alert sent that let him know that Alexis was moving.

Reestablishing his connection, he once more became Timothy. The problem set aside as he wondered what she was up to.

* * *

He found Alexis leaning against the motorcycle. Her hair was in a messy ponytail, and her eyes did not leave the ground until he sat down by her side.

"You are not happy," he said. His hand lifted. He almost brushed some of her hair out of her face, but dropped it. Being there with her was going to have to be enough for the moment.

"Yes. No. I don't know." She looked at him, eyes sparking with suspicion. "I don't trust that Sunstreaker. I know Josh does, and I know he thinks he is who he says he is, and that because my brother trusts him that I should too, but things aren't so clear-cut as they used to be. What is your take on him?"

"Do you trust your brother's instincts?"

"Most the time." She nodded her head.

"Do you think your brother would ever betray you?"

She shook her head again, this time in the opposite direction and more vigorously.

"So you are saying to trust my brother and what he believes?" Alexis inquired, desperate for an answer.

"No. I have seen Decepticons create a scenario to toy with humans. Helping them could just be another ploy. However, helping them for several months, I don't see that happening. They don't have the patience, and nothing humans have to offer would be worth enduring such a change of personality."

Lies, lies and more lies. How easy they came, how capable he was at uttering them. Was he not in a scenario? Had he not deceived her for months upon months? What misgivings he suddenly had, what strange regret. Yet as she turned to him, still asking for his support and overflowing with that trust of hers, he knew he could not stop. He was trapped and did not want to escape.

"So, if he was a Decepticon, he would have... revealed himself by now?"

"Yes, I believe so." She didn't hear the hesitancy in his voice, nor the subtle anguish. Why now, after all this time did he suddenly feel like he _had_ gone too far?

Alexis was still talking, unaware of his internal struggling.

"It would help if I at least felt at ease around him. But even before I knew he was an Autobot; I couldn't help but feel, well, wary of his personality. This hell the world has become hasn't done much good for us, but it has honed my figuring somewhat out skills. And I most certainly don't feel anything toward him like I do for you. If he stopped talking about himself with such vigor, perhaps I could get beyond his obvious large ego and try to see who he really is."

"Perhaps that is exactly who he is."

"No. He would have to be more than that for my brother to take up with him. At least, I would hope. Timothy?"

"Yeah?"

"You _are_ going to continue with us? Aren't you?" Those large eyes of hers, turned upon him with full force, Alexis' hand finding and holding on to his as their shoulders brushed momentarily. He had the sudden inclination to grip down on her hand harder, to pull her up and to take her away. What he was doing was dangerous enough without adding an Autobot to the mix. Thundercracker would not be found out though. His programming of his holo matrix had been a thorough one, and was obviously more sophisticated than the Autobot's.

Idly, his thoughts went back to the way her brother first looked at him. There was less suspicion than he had expected, and while Josh seemed wary about the way he and his sister interacted, he seemed ready to accept him, if only for Alexis' sake.

Such misplaced trust. Thundercracker was growing rather sick of it. Even if it only meant he was playing his part well.

"For now."

Alexis smiled. Turning to him, one hand brushed against his arm.

"I'm glad."

Footsteps were heard. Thundercracker already identified who it was, and he was pleased that Alexis noticed as well.

"Alexis, what are you doing up?"

Greenish blue eyes landed intently on Thundercracker before diverting to Alexis. With the brother so close, TC took the opportunity to look him over. Josh had light brown hair, darker skin than his sister, thinner mouth and was several inches taller than Alexis. The similarities between the two were subtle but apparent, from the shape of their noses, to some of their shared mannerisms. The male sibling was noticeably lean but not unhealthy, the fullness of his face a sign that he was fed regularly.

"You need to get your sleep. We are going to have a long day ahead of us. Especially if we want to make it back to base camp."

Alexis stood, a winsome smile arresting Thundercracker's attention as she got up and left. Josh stayed momentarily behind, staring at Thundercracker in an appraising manner before following his sister.


	15. Glimmer

She was smiling more often. That fact took a while to catch up with Alexis, but the bending and uplifting of her mouth couldn't go unnoticed forever, nor the elated feeling that resided in her belly.

Her brother was _alive_. And while he had no news of her parents, just being with Josh gave her a burst of renewal. Even talking with him and telling him things that had happened to her helped, despite the scary look her brother adopted as she did so.

"You're not going to have to worry anymore, Lex," Josh assured her. Tearing his jerky in half, he handed her a piece. "Resistance groups are growing. Even rumors that some humans have broken through the Decepticons strongholds. We still have a chance, and now that the Autobots are here, they have grown."

Alexis was still wary of the so-called Autobots. And despite the story that Sunstreaker had told, her mistrust was still firmly placed. She didn't care who this Optimus Prime was, or that when he supposedly arrived that the fight would be taken to the Decepticons. Didn't care that more and more Autobots were arriving every day, and that soon their planet would once more be their own. What she focused on, what she couldn't get away from, was why they hadn't arrived sooner. Why, if the Decepticons were their enemies, they hadn't been stopped already if it was easy as all that. The detail that the Autobots and Decepticons were _still _at war, and after such a time, did not give Alexis any confidence, despite the Autobot's boastful words.

She stuck to her brother and Timothy, avoiding the transforming mech as much as possible, a task to be pitied from the start since none of the four were ever far apart.

On the third night into their travels, her brother wanted to know more of Tim. Josh appeared assured by what she told him. By the fourth night, the two men had actually talked to each other as they held a conversation. The sight of Timothy and her brother sitting side by side was a strange one that while was reassuring, somehow made Alexis feel uneasy.

"He doesn't say much," Josh told her that following evening.

Alexis knew he wasn't speaking of Sunstreaker. The Autobot, who was also the human, Sunny, an idea that she still couldn't quite bend her mind around, in any of his forms, obviously loved the sound of his own voice, a phrase she had long heard, but never understood until then.

"He's not always like that," Alexis told her brother of Tim.

"He watches you too much," Josh objected.

"He's just being protective."

"I would say overly, Lex."

"I thought you two were getting along."

Her brother blinked hard. "Had what could be mistaken as a conversation, yes. But like him? Despite what he has done for you, Alexis, I am still uncertain. There is something about him that just doesn't seem right."

Alexis shifted in her sleeping bag, not liking what her brother was saying. She averted her gaze to the stars before her head tilted to the right. Timothy was lying down on a mat a good ten feet away. As if sensing that they were talking about him, he tilted his head. Shadowed eyes drifted over Alexis before he rotated his body away from her gaze.

She turned back to her brother, staring at his brown hair, still amused by how long it had grown, and that he had actually let it. He had a scar under his right eye, one that hadn't been there before she had been captured, but by the looks of it appeared to now be permanent. They had both been through the ringer and then some, and Alexis couldn't help but wonder what other scars awaited them in the future. It wasn't a pleasant thought.

"I could say the same about your Sunny," Alexis threw back at Josh several long moments later.

"Perhaps we are both just being paranoid," her brother offered, although he didn't seem convinced. "We live in a time where we can't even trust what we feel."

Alexis mulled that over, disheartened and remembering her past mistakes. "Timothy is a good person. And despite what I say, I will even... _try_ giving Sunstreaker the benefit of the doubt."

Josh grinned wide. "That is all I ask. And when we return to base, you will see all that I have told you is true. These Autobots are here to help, and some day Earth will be free. I see it, Lex, and feel it in my heart. Our prayers will not go unanswered."

* * *

Since she found her brother, the only time Alexis and Timothy were ever alone was when they traveled. Alexis traveling along with the Autobot and her brother had been insisted upon, but she refused. The thought of being inside the Autobot sent chills down her spine, a sign of her fear that was locked inside her paranoia of the Cybertronians.

However, she was just fine traveling with Tim, and since she had been given a communication device that she could speak to her brother with as they journeyed, the separation from Josh wasn't difficult at all.

When they reached that day's rest spot- an abandoned trailer park that had seen better days before the arrival of the Decepticons, her brother stayed inside the Lamborghini, a motion of his head letting her know that he was busy talking to Sunstreaker.

Making her way to a picnic table, she pulled out her water bottle. But not before stretching, back muscles straining against the precise pressure as she let out a long breath. Alexis loved the motorcycle; she did, especially when it showed off the very ingenuity of humanity and what they could accomplish when forced to. The bike was mainly solar-powered, something that she was totally unaware of until Timothy told her, his fingers motioning to the tiny panels that glittered along its side. And she had thought it had just been decoration. But despite what it represented to her, the bike could be so uncomfortable some days. And the aches that followed after she got off the thing, always led her to figuring out just how many hours they had traveled.

"You're taut."

She felt his words on her neck and couldn't believe how close Timothy had gotten without her even being aware of it, but Alexis supposed she should be used to that by now.

"Come with me," he ordered, leaving no room for argument.

Before Alexis knew it, she was leaning forward on an old trailer home. She stared at the green paint that was peeling on its frame before she shut her eyes. Alexis would have never let anyone touch her like this before, but the way his fingers dug into her flesh, and at exactly the right spots, felt so wonderful. And she wasn't aware how sore she was until his touch deepened, another sore spot found as he rubbed against it with pressure. A gasp left her mouth as her head rolled back in response.

Something changed. It was as if his hands were made of electricity. An undercurrent of sensations drifted up and down her spine, splaying down her legs and drifting into her stomach. Alexis became aware that she could no longer feel Timothy's hands upon her. Only the feeling of energy winding up, around and all about while moving and drifting into places even she didn't know existed. She swore she heard Tim say her name, a dull rasp of breath against her shoulder that easily bypassed the fabric of her shirt and caressed the flesh underneath. Something else was occurring as her emotions seemed to merge with another's. Tantalizing whispers drifted through her consciousness, and just as they became louder, just when she was starting to understand what the voice wanted, everything shattered.

It took Alexis a long moment before she could open her eyes. But when she did, she found Tim on the ground behind her, Josh standing over him with fists tensed as he yelled at Timothy not to touch her. Moving into action, she moved in front of Tim. More out of protection for her brother than for her friend, but she didn't want either of them hurt.

"It's not what you think, Josh," she tried to reassure her brother, but at that point she didn't really know what he thought at all.

"Not what I think?! He had you pushed up against the trailer with his hands moving on you, and if I didn't stop him, who knows where he would have taken it."

Alexis tried to find something to say to that, but was unable. She was also trying to understand what was going on. Alexis had heard of massages so deep that they had almost felt religious, but what Timothy had done to her was different than that. And what she had felt was so strange and exotic that she couldn't even find a name for the sensation.

"No wonder he is so protective of you!" Josh said with stern accusation. "No wonder he watches you all the time!"

Alexis' eyes rounded out as she stepped back. She tried to look at Timothy but couldn't. Her brother grabbed onto her and pulled her away. She managed to look over her shoulder. The human Autobot was walking toward Tim, a misplaced grin creeping on Sunstreaker's face.

"Where are you taking me?" Alexis asked. It wasn't as if there was anywhere to take her, but that didn't stop him from making a resolute effort as he lengthened the distance from where they had been.

Her brother didn't answer, just tugged her forward. When she was going to ask again, they stopped, winding behind the only tree on the road he had taken them along, as he let go. It took several moments for Josh to calm himself, and she knew he wouldn't speak until he did.

"Has he tried anything with you before?" he finally managed. His words were now calm while his eyes betrayed the discomposure that was obviously working through him.

Blinking a couple of times, Alexis felt puzzled. What her brother had said before he grabbed her away, rattled in her brain. Yet, somehow she wasn't surprised, not really. She had known for some time that something was different about the way Tim treated her, but didn't really think of it.

Of course, her mind had to drift back to the time in the shower, an occasion that she had forced herself to forget until right then, with her brother standing in front of her. Alexis adverted her gaze. Everything felt awkward.

"Have you reciprocated?" Josh questioned, his brow rising high.

"Josh, you are taking things way out of proportion. Nothing happened between us. Not today, not before," Alexis told him as truthfully as she could. No way this side of reality would she discuss with her brother what happened in the shower.

"I don't think you should travel with him anymore," Josh said calmly, a spark of mistrust showing up in the downward curve of his mouth.

"Josh!" she fired back, quickly becoming exasperated. "OK, so he... he likes me. That isn't a reason to act like this. I was sore; he was helping out. Nothing more. Nothing less."

"So you _wanted_ him to do that?"

"Ugh!" she half shrieked. "This is me! Alexis. Your sister! He's my friend. We've spent a lot of time together over the past months. I didn't realize, until now, how he felt about me, but I guess..."

Josh interrupted, "It's natural that he pins you against a dingy looking trailer and tries to take advantage of you?"

"I wasn't pinned!" she argued.

"He was leaning against you. You were pinned," Josh said dryly with a glimmer of humor, his mood already shifting back into a better place.

"I don't think I want to talk to you anymore." Alexis made a move to bypass Josh, only to find her wrist grabbed onto as she was pulled back.

"Where do you think you are going?" he asked.

She pointed over her shoulder and down the long road toward the trailer park. "To apologize to Tim for your over response."

He let go of her hand and took a step toward her, voice lowering. "Fine, you say it was all innocent, you say nothing happened, I believe you." Josh's voice took on a dangerous edge. "But I'd better never see him touching you like that again, or I may forget myself and pound him into the ground."

* * *

She couldn't look Timothy in the eyes when she apologized. And it wasn't because she could feel her brother's gaze pounding into her back. But her curiosity overrode her embarrassment, so, looking up into those gray eyes of his; Alexis asked the question she needed an answer to, "What exactly did you do to me?"

He was stiff, his words curt and to the point, no emotion in them that she could detect.

"Eased away the tension. Didn't it work?" he finally replied.

"But I felt..." Alexis' words drifted away as she tried hard to put what she felt into words.

An intensity of emotion clouded through his gaze. Timothy's eyes searched her own, and despite that they were being watched; he took an intimate step forward.

"What?" he inquired, interested.

But Alexis still didn't know what. Just knew that strange, unknown feeling had been a wondrous thing, an expression of being alive that was still pounding through her bloodstream. And he was right, she observed, the tension was gone.

"Do you believe in God?" Her question surprised Tim. She had asked him such a thing before, but this time, Alexis really wanted an answer, not some evasive, turnaround that he always managed as he bypassed the question.

"Which one?"

She huffed, mouth pushing tightly together in offense. Of course, he was doing it again. So she was taken aback when he decided to really answer.

"No, I don't."

Alexis bit her lip and smiled a little. "But I do. I know what it feels like to be more than just myself. To feel another presence, to know I am not alone. And that is what I felt."

He was analyzing her words. Alexis could almost see him tearing them apart in his head, putting them back together and listening to them again.

And then he was taking the last step toward her, his hand reaching forward and pushing the hair out of her face. Alexis didn't know what she expected, but the raw possessiveness and underlining awe in his gaze, did not match up with his words.

"You imagined it," Timothy finally responded. His words were strikingly terse before they drifted away into gentleness. "But your brother is right." He leaned in, his mouth so close to her ear that Alexis felt the expanse of breath that came with his utterance. "I _can't_ stop watching you."

A shiver went down her spine at the fervent tone his voice had taken on. He backed away. Walking between the Autobot and his brother, he continued until he sat down on the motorcycle, confidently waiting for Alexis to join him.


	16. Dispute

Starscream, Thundercracker knew, could be unpredictable. It seemed embedded in his matrix. Along with an irrational reasoning that on more than one occasion had led the Trine into predicaments that could have been easily avoided. But Starscream, even if he would never in a million mega-cycles admit it himself, was a rather emotional Seeker, led by his own emotions to the point that they could dictate his next moves.

Thundercracker always believed that if their Supreme Air Commander ever got the ability to separate his emotional protocols from his reasoning matrix; he would have beaten Megatron long ago. No longer allowing his anger and hostility toward the Decepticon leader cloud his, what could be, and usually was, acute, calculated judgment.

For the past month, Starscream had become increasingly hostile, watchful and just to throw something different into the mix, rather taciturn. Skywarp was even starting to joke that Thundercracker was losing his monopoly on least words used.

TC put it down to Megatron's arrival. But the Decepticon leader coming and going and no incident following had that reasoning stunted. Optics diverging and colliding with Starscream's, Thundercracker saw something there that was directed at him. Unable to filter the Air Commander's emotional capacity, he stared right back. Starscream shifted. A blunt, full forced accusatory expression disappeared so quickly that Thundercracker almost believed he hadn't even seen it. But now, as TC looked back, Starscream's rather terse manner had been more pointed in his direction.

"The Autobots are on Earth?" Starscream repeated what Thundercracker had just said, a momentary pause taken as his optics wandered over to Skywarp and then fell back on the blue Seeker. "And where ___exactly _did you get this data from when Megatron isn't aware of such an outcome?"

The corner of Starscream's mouthpiece lifted. There was an expectation in the way his digits tapped slowly against the edge of the table, an inarticulate amusement in the livened way he straightened upwards.

"I picked up their signal relays when I was traveling," Thundercracker informed calmly.

"Really? How ___unusual_. Considering that I have flown over this planet more times than even our deployed sentinel drones. Do you have coordinates?" Starscream inquired.

"No. I was unable to pinpoint them."

"How inefficient of you, Thundercracker." Starscream chastised, a critical look thrown his way.

"You would prefer I didn't tell you until I knew their exact whereabouts?"

Starscream's optic ridges lifted. "That is unnecessary now. We will find the Autobots. We will destroy them." The Supreme Air Commander smiled, an undefinable triumph in the expression. "What do you say? Feel up to a pursuit?"

* * *

With the strange way that Starscream was acting, some relief came when after months of research, building and finally implementing, he was able to compact the holo-generator into a small device that was easily hidden along his frame, one that could be activated seamlessly and smoothly.

So even being away from the base, he could drift into Timothy. But being an overly cautious individual, he had to careful in how he used the device. The three Seeker's hunt for the Autobots was turning into Starscream's next obsession and thrill that would not be denied nor put off. Skywarp and Thundercracker forced to drop everything as they followed the Supreme Seeker across the planet, pursuing faint Autobot signals that led to nowhere.

TC didn't understand why Starscream wanted them to specifically locate the Autobots, when he could have given that task to his underlings. But more and more he got the vague impression that the Supreme Seeker was keeping an optic on him. And the suspicion that someone had accessed his first-generation holo-generator reemerged. More and more he was believing it had been Starscream. Which, if were true, meant caution, no matter how carefully executed, would serve no purpose. For if Screamer knew what he was up to and hadn't said anything of yet, danger awaited Thundercracker, one that could have been easily sidetracked if he gave the girl up.

He couldn't.

Forsaking recharge time, he went back to his carefully played illusion.

* * *

He was betraying more than just his commander, but his very programming. Reaching the human's haven, TC almost appreciated the ingenious method in which they hid their camp. It was an abandoned military base, in plain view and for all optics to see. Yet, even if it was now hidden by Cybertronian holographic shadows and fake sensory output, it was rather curious that they were even capable of thinking up such a thing. Few Decepticons would think to look in an area that had already been dealt with. Or believe that humans would dare to return where such violent destruction of a one side battle had taken place.

Taken underground, they entered a vast garage that was filled with vehicles along with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, who were waiting for the arriving humans. Thundercracker didn't even have to perform a scan to know that those two Autobots were the only ones there.

Short introductions made, they were shown around. He counted twenty-three humans in various stages of growth, more kids than adults, and most of the adults looking as far away from combat ready as a non-affiliated Cybertronian ready to choose sides.

When they came to the weapon's stash, Thundercracker was impressed by its vastness. By appearances not only had they been left with enough to down a sizable armada but had collected more as well.

"What do you think?"

They had only been on the base for a couple of hours. Alexis and he had been separated when each was shown to their room. Finding her in a makeshift cafeteria later, he joined her. Sitting across from the table, he watched Alexis watch the people that were littered around them, coming and going, moving and talking.

"Even with the sizable ordinance that they have collected, they wouldn't even last a day," Thundercracker let her know.

"Maybe right now they wouldn't, but in time and with training..." Alexis said, her words hopeful and optimistic. "And with _your_ help."

Crossing his arms over his chest, he huffed, "I have more important things to do, than train a bunch of civilians."

Alexis' gaze came sharply back toward him; her mouth pinched tightly. "If that is the way you feel, then there is no need for you to stay, is there?" she said with affront. "I mean, what other purpose is there now, but to fight for our planet?"

He leaned across the table. "And this is your plan? To _fight_?"

She shook her head, firm in her intentions. "I belong with my brother. This resistance may seem infantile to you, but where you see failure, I see a chance to survive for more than just survival's sake."

* * *

Thundercracker was aggravated with her intentions. And yet, what had he expected? Being with her as long as he had been, he knew she was not one to let things pass. She may have been soft-hearted, even rather docile in appearances, but that only hid a rather aggressive nature that Thundercracker was sure she hadn't really tapped into.

If she didn't have a suspicion of the Autobots, he knew she would have surely joined up with them readily. As it was, she stuck to Josh and Timothy, slowly meeting some other humans as she branched out. The Autobots were training the humans, not only in weapons but hand to hand combat. A rather ridiculous course that as far as Thundercracker could tell, was really only done so that the two Autobots could show off their dubious skills. Humans didn't need to learn how to fight. They needed to learn how to kill.

Josh learned from the Autobots and passed the knowledge along to his sister. Thundercracker standing idly by, he watched the two train in the upper part of the garage. TC felt the Autobots arrival before they appeared. And as the yellow and red Lamborghini parked, Alexis tried to ignore them, her actions suddenly stiff.

Engines shutting off, the two Autobots appeared as their human counterparts. The twins were nearly identical in appearances, except in their manner of dress. Both were so clean and precise in appearance, that they looked flagrantly conspicuous. Obviously, they weren't going for the reality factor, for even TC knew that humans, no matter what state they were in, or at least none that he had ever encountered, looked _that_ polished.

The two leaned casually against the far side of the wall and watched the siblings perform warm-up exercises. While Josh was leading her toward something else, Alexis seemed intent on stretching in a different manner. Hands going here and there, she lifted and stretched up a leg and an arm, extending and pushing toward the tall ceiling. Her inhalation fixed into steady breaths and Alexis continued the rather elegant display of what, after doing a quick scan of one of her positions, he recognized as a variation of ta-chi and yoga.

But Thundercracker wasn't the only one watching. And he could see the twins attention had shifted to the female sibling, and her now prominently displayed, lithe form. Both of their eyes shifted and rested on her bare feet, an oddity that caused them to talk among each other with a chatter of voices that annoyed.

Sunstreaker came forward. Walking around the pair, he stood directly in front of Alexis. He tsked softly before scoffing openly.

"Idiotic human. What the slag do you think you are doing? You think you can warm up when a Decepticon is on your tailpipe? Think you can get anywhere when you don't even have on the appropriate armor? Just how far do you think you are going to get in any terrain without your feet covered? You're pathetic enough without exposing your weaknesses."

Alexis paused mid stretch. Josh stepped forward in his sister's defense.

"That's harsh, Sunstreaker."

The Autobot ignored Josh's words and homed in on Alexis with more severity.

"You want to train? You train with us." Sunstreaker pointed at his inflated chest. "Your brother may be sufficient enough in scouting, gathering of supplies and finding even ___more _fleshlings for us to protect, but it is ___our _duty to put you pathetic excuse for warriors into shape, and your brother is far from qualified. And what better way to learn but the best fraggin' warriors in the whole Autobot army. Prime didn't send us here because of our inefficiency. We are known for getting results, in any which way we can."

Alexis responded, her tone low yet charged with subtle malevolence, "And yet the Decepticons have been here for almost two years. Where were you _mighty_ warriors then?"

Thundercracker swallowed back a chuckle. He rarely got to see Alexis' aggressive side, but it always proved stimulating when he did.

Sunstreaker took on a prominent frown, eyes lost between the slits of his eyelids. "If you humans knew how to take care of your own planet, there would be no reason for us to be here at all," the Autobot shot back with equal aggression, his gaze once more darting over the female.

"How were we to know that a bunch of alien robots were out there just waiting to invade?" Alexis threw back at him. Her mouth pushed tightly together as she twisted her hands before crossing her arms across her chest.

Sunstreaker shook his head and chuckled. "The likelihood was obviously possible. The fact that you fleshbags didn't see it coming, shows how obtuse your culture really is and how..."

An audience was growing. The rising voices of Sunstreaker and Alexis had pulled the humans that had been working in the area and nearby, toward their area of the garage.

"Streaker don't say it..." Sideswipe interjected. Coming behind his brother, he grabbed to his shoulder and tied to pull him back and away. Sunstreaker refused to budge.

The Autobot went on, vocal level dropping so that only those near Alexis could hear. "...you humans _deserved_ to be destroyed. And the fact that we came to help you at all... " He paused, lifted a brow and let a half grin invade the side of his mouth. "...you should, you should be grateful, more than that... should be down before us, worshiping us at the gods we obviously are."

Alexis took a shocked step backwards. Sunstreaker clamped down on her wrist and pulled her back toward him. Josh quickly acted as he pushed the Autobot away and off his sister, conflict written on his face as his hands twisted into tight fists.

An excuse rising, Thundercracker used it. Forcing Sunstreaker around, he did what Josh seemed unable to, his fist making contact with the Autobot. He stood above the downed Autobot, waiting for the next move to take place. But Sideswipe stepped in again, mindful of the now very verbal audience of nearby humans. They crowd may not have heard the worst of Sunstreaker's words, but by the sound of the human's chatter that TC picked up, the Autobots already had a notorious reputation.

Sideswipe pulled his brother up. Thundercracker was disappointed that it wasn't going to be taken any further; however, by the look Sunstreaker and Sideswipe threw his way before they parted, he knew it wasn't over. For now, it was enough that Sunstreaker believed a mere human had gotten the better of him. TC's mouth curved slightly up.

"Are you okay?" Thundercracker asked of Alexis, but it was the brother who answered.

"Fine," Josh said shortly. But when he spoke he was looking at his sister. "I suppose you think me foolish. But believe me, Alexis, they just have a lot they are forced to deal with right now. I know they are a little self oriented, but they _do _mean well and have taught us much. Believe me when I say that is the first time I have ever heard Sunstreaker talk like that... he couldn't have meant it."

* * *

Thundercracker was pleased. He did not want Alexis to accept the Autobots, or even be around them. But with the way they acted, or for that matter, Sunstreaker acted; he was sure he had nothing to worry about.

Or so he thought.

The very next day while wandering to Alexis' quarters, he found Alexis already outside. She was leaning against the door frame, Sunstreaker standing uncomfortably before her as he said something. Done, he left. Crossing Thundercracker's path, the Autobot glared before his mouth twisted into a sneer.

"What did _he_ have to say?" Thundercracker asked Alexis when he reached her.

"Well, I think he just apologized."

"You're not sure?"

She laughed softly and her features softened. "I think that's as close as he's going to get. He probably didn't even mean it, but, well, he did _try,_" she said, that kindness of hers reaching for an optimistic view. "Perhaps they aren't all that bad, Timothy. I mean..." She shut the door behind her and pulled Thundercracker along. "I think maybe they do mean well. And even if they don't want to be here... at least, I don't know, at least they bothered to show up? They didn't have to."

"They are just under orders by this Optimus Prime. Do not think this is anything personal for them."

"Perhaps it would be better if it wasn't," she told him, frowning deeply.

* * *

It was several days later, the two walking idly through the base, when Thundercracker broke the peaceful silence.

"I have been thinking, Alexis."

"Oh?" she smiled up at him with encouragement.

"I have decided that _I _will train you."

"A civilian?" she teased. "I'm honored. But really..." She stopped. "I have also been doing some thinking. And well, I am going to have to start trusting these Autobots sometime, and I might as well start by being trained by them. Josh says they are rather hard in their methods, but I can always get you to beat them up again if they try anything."

Catching his look, she smiled wide. "I'm just kidding, Tim. But I will never forget the expression on Sunstreaker's face when you managed to deck him one." Alexis lightly laughed at the memory. "Guess all of us humans aren't so obtuse," she joked.

The mood ruined, and the humor lost on him; Thundercracker internally shuttered. If she knew he wasn't even human... He would never see her again. Not like this, not like it was between them. Stopping her, Thundercracker stared down into her eyes. He wanted to keep her like that, her skin flushing, her expression switching between confusion and affection before settling for the latter.

He bent toward her and spoke softly, "I will always protect you for as long as you allow."

Alexis nodded her head. The two stared at one another until the sound of footsteps approaching from behind shook them out of the moment. Grabbing onto her hand, as intrusive as it was, he knew what it could mean for the humans. His pseudo heart raced and warmed when she didn't let go.


	17. Ripple

Even after the confrontation with Sunstreaker and herself, Alexis found she rather liked it on the Autobot base. It took a couple of days to adjust and become familiar as she got to know the place. Spending time with her brother, he introduced her to some of the residents. Timothy tagged along but made no effort to interact.

Since their arrival, her brother had eased up on Tim, something Alexis was glad for. Her friend was such a strong individual. Not daunted by either of the Autobots even as Sunstreaker made a show that he had not forgotten what had taken place. A silent vow there that one day it would most certainly be brought up again.

The base was large and roomy, yet the Autobots had to stay on the upper levels, only able to come down as their human counterparts due to the lack of room. They wandered around the base like they owned it, which Alexis supposed they did.

Sitting down and eating lunch, she was all alone at one of the tables. Alexis was trying to eat the macaroni and cheese, but was put off by its bitter taste and soft noodles. Pushing her tray away, she grabbed an apple. Alexis was delighted to find its flavor sweet and tangy and so fresh tasting, that for a moment, as she took another bite, she delighted in the small blessing.

Someone sat down in front of her. Eyes lifting, she found Sideswipe there. Murmuring began in the small cafeteria, the few people that were there very interested in the Autobot's appearance. The red-head stared at Alexis momentarily before pushing the tray father away from them both.

"You do not look like Joshua," he stated with curiosity.

Smiling from the realization that he didn't seem as horrible as his brother, she eased into the conversation. "I share his nose." She tapped it. "And others have said we look alike, even sound alike."

"They lied," he said.

She chuckled at that, an action that made the Autobot's back straightened as he narrowed his eyes. Taking the moment of silence, she bit into the apple. Swallowing the small morsel, Alexis sighed with content.

"Do you plan to stay?" he suddenly asked. "Your brother seemed to believe you would."

"Yes, he wants me to. We belong together."

He readily understood that. "And your companion?"

"Timothy?" She couldn't stop the smile that tugged at her mouth. "He's staying as well."

He stood. Sideswipe's chair screeched lightly against the smooth floor from his sudden movement. "Your friend is rather _daring_ for a human. I will give him that. But you may do well to tell him that his actions will never be repeated."

Alexis nodded her head, not wanting to cause contention.

The Autobot continued, pleased that she didn't argue, "Joshua informs me you shall be joining our training sessions. I look forward to seeing what you are capable of."

With that the Autobot walked off. Silence engulfed the area as the curious humans watched the humanized alien exit.

* * *

Alexis never expected training with the Autobots to be so strenuous. More often then not, she would find herself returning to her quarters bruised and sore, and too worn out to even contemplate the fact that she rather despised it. Or that continuing with the training was making her miserable. Probably, because Sunstreaker was brutal, Sideswipe was stern and when they both trained the humans together, it took the exercises to a whole new level of torture. The two were skilled, but their ability to teach it to others was lacking. And their capability of interacting on a personal level, or perhaps with humans, was devoid of patience and much-needed tact.

Over the next couple of weeks, Alexis considered giving it up, but continued out of will alone. But then, after one rather long day, Sideswipe decided to single her out this time as he forced her to train alone with him. He pushed her and pushed her some more. Forcing her to run a couple of miles and then, her breathless and barely able to breathe, made her spar with him as her legs wobbled from exhaustion, the fight turning one-sided as she found herself flat out on the mat with the Autobot hovering above. She decided that was it.

The following morning she slept in, content in her decision. An acute relief was there that she could have cried, but laughed instead. Every couple of hours she would stir, her body now accustomed to being up at that time. But her mind was not willing. She still glanced at her clock here and there as the period during the training session passed relatively quickly until finally it was over.

Alexis stayed in bed the whole time just because she could. But with the training period over with, she got up and hummed a familiar tune that she couldn't quite place. She was interrupted when a rather jarring knock collided against the door. Opening it, she found Sideswipe standing there. His eyes slowly fell down her body, taking in her sleeping attire and tousled state of being.

"You missed training today," Sideswipe uttered in a low, deliberate tone.

Alexis bristled. It had taken her some time to get over the appearance of the Autobot's human selves, for there was no denying how truly beautiful the brothers were. Once upon a time, their over the top good looks would have served to daunt her. The twins had striking greenish blue eyes. Sunstreaker had blond hair while Sideswipe had blackish red. Both wore their hair perfectly spiked up and parted, with the bangs hovering and dipping over the tips of their eyebrows, adding to their appeal.

"I did." Alexis nodded her head and narrowed her eyes. She stared at the guy. There was no denying the tension he was making her feel. She reminded herself yet again, he wasn't exactly as he appeared. And it was foolish to allow someone's looks, no matter how stunning, to twist her tongue with nervousness.

"Get dressed. You can make up what you missed with me," he offered rather graciously while staring at her once more as the corner of his mouth curled up.

She shook her head. "No."

He took a step closer, his eyes latching willfully onto hers. "You still have _much_ to learn," the Autobot asserted.

"Yes, but nothing you two have taught so far would ever be of any use, not to me, or anyone else facing a Decepticon."

Sideswipe blinked hard at that, astonishment swimming along the rigid frame of his shoulders. "You are quite correct," he finally admitted. A small smile showed up as he took in her startled expression. "Do you want to down a 'Con? To terminate one?" Another step was taken, his arms brushing against her elbows as he leaned against the door frame. "All you have to do is ask." Sideswipe's eyes darkened. "And I will teach you," he whispered. His hand came forward, fingers lingering down the round of her shoulder and lifting away, a gesture of familiarity that had Alexis' body recoiling backwards.

He flinched at her reaction, but went on, "Your brother has informed me about what happened while you were on the Decepticon base. Above most, I know you would appreciate more decisive methods that would prove beneficial when meeting your adversary again."

"I don't think so," Alexis heard herself responding. He seemed eager for her to accept, and that alone was enough to object. A quick flash of disappointment appeared in his eyes before the slits of his lids covered them. "Honestly, I thought I was ready, but this is all too much, too soon," she told him. Alexis left off the fact that compared to their teaching methods, one would have found any military boot camp training, a holiday, and the drill Sergeants, a welcome substitution. Perhaps, they just needed to know how to handle humans, especially ones who were not familiar with battle, or their enemy. Idly, she considered talking to her brother about that.

* * *

Josh was disappointed in her decision to quit the training, but Timothy, Alexis saw, was pleased. Somehow, his reaction came as no surprise. Left with more free time than ever, Alexis took to doing inventory, a pleasing task that even as she counted large weaponry and dangerous looking equipment, gave Alexis a satisfaction of accomplishment that she hadn't had the opportunity to experience in some time.

"Alexis?"

Dropping the data pad, she nearly lost her grip on the ladder she had been on. She stepped down and found Sideswipe waiting for her.

He frowned, tilting his head to the side as he examined her. "You have done enough work for today." Sideswipe looked down at her small tablet he had caught. Biting his mouth, he scrolled through some of the recently added data.

"I'm almost done," she let him know. "I just want to do this last shelf." She pointed at the top row where large books and manuals rested. Alexis reached out for the tablet, expecting him to hand to hand it to her so that she could finish up. The Autobot pulled back though, mildly irritated.

"Have you been using this thing the whole time you have worked here?" he asked her, his tone filled with some sort of blame.

Alexis nodded her head. Not understanding his frustration, her hand fell away with his next comment.

"It's outdated and slow," he commented with dissatisfaction.

Alexis smiled lightly. Acclimating to the electronic device had taken her a good hour, but she had been proud when she finally figured out its little idiosyncrasies. "Seemed to be working fine to me, although the scrolling does freeze here and there and changes pages can lag a little."

He lifted up his gaze and continued to stare at her. Alexis stepped forward, trying to take the tablet from him again. But her fingernails only grazed Sideswipe's fingers as he stepped away.

"I will get you a different one," Sideswipe told her firmly as he tensed, his words slowly articulated. He left the room before she could argue.

Left with no way to continue, she sat on the lower rung of the ladder and waited patiently for Sideswipe's return. Alexis closed her eyes and leaned back. The storage rooms were quiet, separated and set off from the rest of the base. While the Autobot's sanctuary wasn't exactly a bustle of activity, getting away and finding solitude was not unpleasant. She relaxed while her thoughts drifted away and beyond.

"Alexis?"

Alexis found herself startled again. This time she jerked forward and bumped against Timothy's chest where he was positioned on the floor.

"Where do you guys come from? Some inter dimensional gateway?" Standing up, she pushed the ladder away. "Is this the latest trend? Sneaking up on the defenseless girl?"

For once he didn't seem amused by her levity. In fact, stepping forward and studying him more, she saw Timothy didn't hear her at all.

"We need to converse, Alexis."

"What's on your mind?"

"On my... _mind_?" he repeated while looking confused. That was lost when his determination came back. "I... come with me." Tim gripped to her arm and pulled her along, away from the front and deep into the back of the storage room, cushioning them between two of the giant metal shelves. Shadows fell over Timothy, muting his features as he kept his grip firm. They stayed like that for several short minutes. Timothy listened closely as if waiting for someone to appear. No one came and he backed away.

"There is something I need to tell you, Alexis," he began.

She could barely make out his face anymore, but she heard the conflict in his words. Her stomach knotted, a strange dark premonition tightening her lungs as she inhaled sharply.

"Whatever it is, you can tell me," Alexis whispered. Moving back toward him, she gently touched his shoulder. He didn't allow it. Pushing her forcefully back, he took both her hands in his left and placed them above her head against the shelf. His other hand brushed against her forehead and down past her cheek. His eyes were becoming hazy, a strangeness overtaking him that proved to confuse. "Alexis..." he whispered her name, the soft warmth from his breath tingled along her neck as his fingers strayed downwards. Just when a curling tension was causing her legs to weaken, she heard someone enter the room and call her name.

Alexis almost forgot about Sideswipe. Hand griping firm to hers, Tim lowered her own and pulled Alexis along again. He led her to the back corner of the room, pushing them both behind another shelf, the space smaller than the last.

"Say nothing. I will not..."

But she already heard steps being taken and before Alexis could say anything in return, Sideswipe appeared, or so she imagined. Timothy had blocked her against the bookcase with his body, pressing so tight against her that to breathe was to breathe along with him. Her head angled away and back.

"What do you want, _Autobot_?" Timothy asked, his voice beyond friendly. The hostility in his tone made her whole body bristle, a glint of something hard lining the sharp edges of his clipped words.

"What are you doing to Alexis?"

"Nothing that is any of your concern."

"Then why is her heart racing?"

"_Leave us_," Timothy commanded, his order so absolute that for a moment, Alexis was lost in her memories. Lost in the world as a slave, ordered and forced to obey. Suddenly, it was hard to breathe, hard to think. Mildly panicking, she tried to push Tim off. Distracted in his argument with Sideswipe, he didn't allow her to move.

"No," Sideswipe responded with equally placed belligerence.

There was a shuffle. Light shifted and moved. Weight lifted and moved away. Alexis' hand was grabbed yet again, pulled forward and away as she was led behind Sideswipe.

"Take one step closer to this human and you will regret it," the Autobot threatened.

Managing to lift her head, she found Timothy's gaze. A dominating, possessive darkness shaded his eyes, making her take a step back. The emotions disappeared quickly, replaced with an impeccable calmness that she was more familiar with.

Alexis grabbed the tablet out of Sideswipe's hand and forced a smile on her face. "We were just talking, Sideswipe. Everything is okay."

The red-headed Autobot analyzed her for a moment. Huffing with frustration, he left them alone. Somehow, Alexis knew he was waiting outside the room, prepared to battle once more with Tim. Just what had her brother been telling the Autobot to make him so aggressive? Or did it still have to do with what Timothy did to his brother? And was that same remembered confrontation why Timothy had been so rude? Or was it something else?

"Alexis, why are you trembling? I did not mean to frighten you."

Alexis lifted up her eyes, warmed by Timothy's concern. "You didn't frighten me."

"Then tell me what is going on."

Shifting her body down to the floor, Timothy followed, settling his body on his knees. How could she tell him that suddenly she felt like she was back on the Decepticon base, that it was his unexpected display of pugnacity that had her seeing Thundercracker behind her, Starscream from above? That even still she felt their presence lingering around the edges of her consciousness, making her feel caged in and wrestling for control?

She tried to tell him, somehow feeling vulnerable. He listened to her words. When Alexis saw the rising of conflict in the depths of his gray eyes, he unexpectedly pulled her forward, strong arms wrapping her an embrace.

"You are now with me, Alexis. Nothing is going to happen to you," Tim assured her. One of his hands brushed through her hair and traveled down her back. "I won't let it."

"You had something you wanted to tell me," Alexis pushed forth out of nervousness, trying to ignore where his fingers were resting. An odd tingling sensation climbed up her spine.

"It was _nothing_," Timothy said. Alexis heard anguish in his tone, a bitterness as well, one that had his arms tighten around her. "Nothing at all. Just stay with me for a little while."

She nodded her head and relaxed against her friend, wondering when he became her safe haven. The thoughts of the Decepticon base and all she had endured, slipped away as contentment and a stirring calm enveloped them both.


	18. Picnic

A fragging picnic. That was what had the human's on the base coming alive, such cheerful chatter and excitement building that one would have thought their emancipation from the invasion of the Decepticon forces was taking place.

"Josh said you are to go with me, get in." Sideswipe belted out to the passing Alexis.

The red Lamborghini moved slowly forward, his tires stopping just short from the elaborate bumper tapping against the girl. Her eyes lifting, her brother smiled wide and waved his hand at his sister from where he was inside the other 'Bot. Sunstreaker reversed, rubber burning, tires shifting, car spinning around before charging out the garage's widening sliding door.

"She's with me." TC spoke. Taking hold of Alexis, he led her to their motorcycle.

"In that case, I would love a ride," the teenager Michael spoke up. He opened the door and slid in, his mouth still moving as the Autobot shifted into gear and reversed the entire length of the stretch of a garage before taking off even faster than his just departed brother. Thundercracker nearly smiled. He knew of the youth rather well from observation. The kid seemed to have a glitch: his mouth ran non-stop. Oxygen was hardly required for that one. And when he was around one of the Lamborghini twins, his conversation protocols went into overdrive, his excitement and awe such that it overwhelmed even the praise seeking Autobots.

"Ahh... I forgot my hat. I'll be right back," Alexis rushed off between the still emerging humans and disappeared.

Thundercracker wandered over to the bike and sat on its seat while he watched the creatures. A family strolled by him with a toddler that held gleefully to her parental unit's hands as she was swung back and forth, the mates gazing at one another with overstated happiness. The male nodded his head toward TC, the female smiling as she said a quick hello.

Family units. Those were the ones Megatron loved to go after, taking pleasure in tormenting one as the others watched on. Being as related Bots were hard to come by, TC could just guess of the pleasure his master was getting from the overly populated and more than related humans. Suddenly, that thought wasn't as easily dismissed as it usually was. Suddenly, as he shifted on the seat and his hands went slowly through his fabricated follicles, it made him downright uncomfortable.

"OK, I'm good. Let's go." Thundercracker felt Alexis' hands go around his waist, her body leaning a little against him as she adjusted what he now knew was a ponytail. Putting her cap on, she tapped her hands against the bike. "Timothy, did you hear me?"

Shaking himself back into a realm of reality, he started the motorcycle up. His thoughts drifted away when Alexis' grip steadily tightened along with the bike's quickening pace. He may have always resented grounders and their inadequacies, but now he got a livening thrill from riding on such a thing.

Not that the motorcycle really had anything to do with it.

* * *

Baseball. Frisbee. Water balloons. Burning fires and cooking meat. A clear lake and a bright sun. Laughter and smiles, more laughter and smiles, running and playing, happiness and a total lack of regard for the danger that could be out there.

Not that all of them weren't aware.

"So, what you are saying is that even though I can't see it or feel it, there is a protective shield above and around us?" Alexis asked of Sideswipe.

Unfortunately, the Autobot managed to get rid of the teenager Michael a lot sooner than Thundercracker had calculated. Alexis wandered over to the Autobot as her curiosity won out over their sudden freedom from the base.

Sideswipe got down on his knee plates, chassis proudly rising as he preened, his words marked with pronounced pleasure. He explained the workings of the Autobot shield, astonished when Alexis actually manged to understand some of what he said. But she was rather curious when it came to technology, something that was becoming identifiable the more time she spent with the technology infused Autobots. She took in everything as she asked questions.

"I myself am equipped with a smaller version of the cloaking field, my brother as well. Not only are we pleasing to look at but safe to be inside. And did I mention how fast I can go? Nothing can catch me... unless I wanted."

Not as impressed as the Autobot had obviously wanted, Alexis smiled uncertainly. One of the younglings ran up to her, a girl; the same one Thundercracker had seen in the garage. Thinking back, he had seen Alexis conversing with the family. The child happily tugged on Alexis' arm.

"Mommy said to ask if you would swim with me."

"Sure."

Small hand wrapping around Alexis', the two girls left the obviously disgruntled Autobot behind. Sideswipe was not pleased that a youngling had been able to draw away attention from himself. It just wasn't that Bots day, a realization that finally did bring a low smile to TC's lips.

Until his eyes wandered back over to Alexis. He saw her disrobe and take her shirt off, a tightly formed, thinly strapped, smooth looking one was hidden underneath that showed off more than her humanity, but her female curved body as well. Pants taken off, shorts were on underneath, Alexis' pale skin exposed, she began to rub some sort of lubricant on her flesh.

His breath caught in his throat.

Standing there and watching that scene, his eyes shifted to take in the Autobot, who was staring at the female with openly displayed confusion. TC felt something snap within and a tight frown grew on his mouth as he jogged toward the girl, but not soon enough. After putting a protective tank top over what he discovered was a swimsuit, Alexis ran into the water. The toddler followed and a large weightless ball was tossed between them.

"Timothy, did you hear me?"

She was talking to him. He heard his name. But his concentration couldn't seem to stray from her extra show of flesh and the wetness of it. The way water trickled down the hollow of her throat and along the smooth curve of her shoulders, the luminosity that radiated off and drifted around the strange pitter-patter of his quickening heart.

"What?"

Slag. She was standing before him. Alexis was drenched, hair wet, skin damp, the smoothness of flesh sparkling under the dominating sun. His voice. So strange. So tight.

"Join us? Emily wants to say hi." Alexis pointed toward the five-year-old girl.

Defensively, he backed away and shook his head in the negative. The way his body was starting to react again, reason enough to instigate caution.

"_I'll_ join you." A voice eagerly said behind TC.

Something hard bashed against his shoulder. The human Sideswipe tentatively walked into the water and then dove under. Reemerging, the two facades of humanity exchanged glances: one full of smirking pride, the other tense with agitation.

* * *

"Do you want one?" Alexis brought up her hand. She held a long strangely colored stretch of meat that was encased in a piece of bread; thick red and yellow liquid streaked down the length of it.

He wrinkled his nose, head shifting back along his shoulders. "And do what with it?"

Alexis covered her mouth and chuckled. "Eat it of course. Don't you like hot dogs?"

"Hot dogs? You eat your pets?"

Eyes turned toward him. Or at least the parental units of one Emily. Earlier, the five had settled down on a blanket and food was handed out. The slagging Autobot called away by his brother, Thundercracker was left alone with Alexis once more, or at least as much as he had managed so far.

The toddler's food was suddenly expelled out of her mouth as chewed up pieces of meaty flesh and bread met the blanket underneath.

"Mom? Did I just eat Molly?" Tears began to well, falling down the trembling child as she went to sit on her father's lap. "Daddy, is what Timmy said true?"

TC glanced over at Alexis. Alexis nodded her head as she jerked it, trying to tell him to act, but act how, he was unsure. Taking the initiative Alexis went to the toddler and patted her back softly.

"Tim just has an odd sense of humor. That wasn't dog meat, it made from the beef we managed to get a hold of last week."

Emily sniffled while pulling away from her dad to look up at Alexis. "What is beef made out of?"

The female parent lifted her hand up in the air, warning Alexis. Come to think of it, the cow that had been retrieved had been maintained by the bases' younglings, most of them probably unaware of the fate of the animal that they had treated as a pet.

"Who is Molly?" Alexis asked.

The youngling wiped her nose on her arm, an action that made TC cringe. She did it again.

"She was our dog." Emily hiccupped, smiled and then started to talk again. Her voice picked up in excitement as she told of her small pet, loud voice going on for some time.

And as the youngling began to talk about her cat with even greater length, Thundercracker reminded himself for the seventh time that he really needed to watch what he said around the humans, especially the ones that were not fully grown.

That internal recommendation was followed by strange incredulity from the circumstances that required such a precaution.

* * *

The kid fell asleep and the four adults talked among themselves. The parents were Mark and Patricia, or "Pat" as the female stated with friendly openness.

"I haven't been called Patricia since middle school. So..." Pat leaned against her husband. "How long have you two been together?"

Yes, a lot of humans had the innate ability of being blunt. A quality that Megatron might have respected. He, however, was missing something. For suddenly Alexis looked befuddled, Pat's tone of voice had pushed the simple words into a subtlety he wasn't deciphering correctly.

"For some time now. Alexis found me..." he went on a little, trying to be conversational if only for show alone.

"No, honey." The dark-haired woman chuckled and patted his hand. "I meant as a couple. The way you two get along, I thought that you two were dating, or as much as one can nowadays." She shrugged her shoulders and winked.

A list suddenly formed in Thundercracker's head.

One: He did not like being called honey.

Two: The woman had no right to pat his hand, let alone touch him.

Three: Never laugh at a Decepticon in human guise or not.

Four: Never patronize a Decepticon, or he may just forget that he is a human in guise.

"What you think about whatever relationship the two of us may or may not have, is not something you need to make idle assumptions about."

His critical, very acidic statement had the couple bursting into laughter as they shared knowing glances.

* * *

Alexis was silent on their way back. And tired, he could feel her languidness in the looseness of her limbs. Twice already he had to reposition her hands, pressing them against his body as he reminded her in the action to hold on.

Arriving back at base, she smiled yet again. Alexis had smiled much lately, and that day it was as if the sun was planted on the lines of her mouth.

"I'm taking a shower, and I think, calling it a night." She stepped closer. Two fingers gently drifted down his hand. "Thanks for today. I really had fun."

Five minutes later as he made his way back to his bunk, a sense of danger twisted through his holo-form, an instability rising that meant he didn't have much time to find a place, disable the technology and become himself.

Yet this time, as he rounded a corner and turned the holo-form off while his consciousness lifted, flew and pounced back into his Cybertronian form, the warning did not fade. A tension tightened his cabling and made his servos bend hard.

"Wakey, wakey, TC," Skywarp's head hovered over Thundercracker, a grin on his mouthpiece. "Time to come on-line... Starscream has found some Autobots," Warp added with exuberant glee.

Coordinates were relayed with a destination marked for eradication. But TC knew the coordinates, knew them well. For it was where he had just been.


	19. Turbulence

Alexis was rooted to the spot. Chaos was all around, humans screaming and the sounds of metal clashing against metal as Decepticons and the two Autobots fought.

But there might as well have been a dozen Autobots. The viciousness in their techniques, the Energon that gushed and flowed as they kicked and grabbed hold, kicked out and punched at the invading Decepticons. Guns emerged from the inside of their very hands and shots fired as appendages and other parts were blasted off, more Energon splattering on the already soiled ground.

When the sound of jet engines was heard, the two Autobots transformed. They barked off orders as Sunstreaker drove off with her brother, the twins leading the escaping humans away before more Decepticons forces arrived. Ready to run as well, ground split up around her, blasting Alexis back as she landed next to one of the fallen Decepticons. His eyes still burned even as his head was not attached to his body.

That was when she was grabbed upwards and back. Timothy took off in a run, away from the escaping Autobots and humans, away from the carnage and away from the new arrivals. Alexis' already strained breath caught in her chest. The familiar figures of Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp touched down where the Autobots had been, an ostentatious display of power and wreckage just from landing. Earth was broken up and thrown asunder, dust building and scattering as their weapons folded out and took precise aim at the scattering masses below.

"Capture the Autobots, kill whatever gets in the way," Starscream barked.

Terror filled Alexis' heart as she thought about her brother. However, with Timothy's hand clamping down so hard on her wrist that it ached, she could only run alongside and try to keep up as she tried hard not to look back.

* * *

The picnic had been wonderful. A glimpse into how great life could be and how fun. Returning exhausted, Alexis was in the shower when the strange emanations began, tremors moving up the bones of her body. Curious, she exited the shower and quickly got dressed. Alexis was just about to get her shoes on when her door was forced open. Timothy bounded inside.

"Come with me, now!" he demanded.

But somewhere between the warning alarm sounding off, the other residents mixing in and panicky, as they too sought to find out what was going on, she was separated from her friend. Moving away from where everyone else was heading, she made her way to the westside exit that was not used as much as the other due to the incline of a hill one must trudge down and up to get to it. But with her tenacity for getting outside and figuring things out, that task seemed insignificant.

Shoes still in her hand, Alexis was just about to put them on when the sounds started. The fear pitched in her body as she ran down the inclined path. She ignored the rocks that stuck out, the twigs that jutted and the discomfort that prickled against her exposed feet.

But now, as Timothy pulled her along, she was more aware of her bare feet than ever. A good fifteen minutes had passed since he first grabbed her. Alexis wanted to beg him to stop. Yet the hammering of her heart kept her mouth tightly shut. And the dreadful sounds behind them kept her feet moving despite the pain and the sharp intrusions underneath the soles and heels of her feet.

Alexis worried about her brother and the others, ruminated on how they were found. Alexis remembered the details of the impenetrable field that Sideswipe had told her about, which should have prevented them from ever being discovered. More worries came, but they were better than the fear; the chest tightening, mouth opening, need to scream and hide fear, that pumped vigorously through her bloodstream, forcing her adrenaline into a frenzy as the metallic taste of copper coated her tongue.

* * *

After running longer than she ever had in her life, and then walking briskly even longer than that, it was Timothy finally letting go of her wrist and motioning for her to follow him, that the blackness that had been in the corner of her eyes began to pulse softly, the world pulsing with it. Dusk was upon them, darkness soon to arrive.

"This way," Timothy instructed, motioning with his hands behind a path of bushes and trees. She stepped carefully and followed. Reigning in her breath and trying to gain control, Alexis wobbled forward, eyes shutting momentarily as she leaned heavily against a tree. Just a couple of deep breaths, a moment of reprieve, that was all she needed. The sudden lack of motion was both a relief and an engenderment of discombobulation.

Timothy took hold of her arm and firmly shook his head. She continued. Finding herself led to an opening of what looked to be a cave, Alexis walked cautiously inside.

"The mixture of metals in this cave should make it very hard for them to track us."

Alexis shook her head. She was still having a strange time trying to focus. Her legs were stiff; she was exhausted, and the beginning of a headache was dancing along the tip of her temple. Dropping down and leaning against one of the far walls, she was finally given a chance to take those deep breaths. She stretched her fingers, her other hand still holding onto shoe strings. When she took them off, she always tied her shoes together, never knowing when she would need to grab them.

"You're injured," Timothy hovered from above. _Concern_. She recognized the concern. The first emotion she heard from him since their rather frantic escape. He had gone into what she now called Vulcan mode when he had first grabbed her outside the base. It was a side to his personality that was distant and almost automated. Sometimes, after observing him during the months that she knew him, with his personality shifting and his emotions coming and going, Alexis wondered if he was a manic depressive. The changes in his personality could be so abrupt and noticeable that the lack of humanity could be quite startling. However, he was a soldier. And Alexis knew they worked on totally different wavelengths. A from of apathy had to be required, perhaps needed to deal with such cerebellum induced terror, especially when one was trained to fight back as well.

Wet coldness and pain rippled against the bottom of her feet. Opening her eyes, Alexis saw the outline of Timothy sitting down before her feet. A cloth was in his hand and an opened flask nearby. The cloth touched her flesh again. Flinching, she instinctively tried to pull back. Tim held firm.

"Stay still," he ordered. Gently, he cleaned her cuts and gashes.

Biting down on the bottom of her lip, she forced herself to remain still. "My brother..." she whispered with horror and unspoken fears.

Timothy cut in, "If those Autobots are as good as they say they are; he will be fine. Just focus on staying alive yourself, and you will see him again."

She nodded her head, making herself believe that. "Did you see them?" Alexis asked, her words both in awe and tainted with terror. "I forgot how... how _terrifying_ they are." Tears escaped down her cheek, her words catching in her throat as it became restricted. The vision of the Decepticon jets was stained beneath her eyelids. The knowledge of them out there and so close was more than she wanted to process and handle.

"Those Seekers?" Timothy whispered, his tone strangely muffled.

"Seekers?" She had heard that word plenty of times before, but did not know that he had. Something prickled along the back of her mind, but she could not concentrate enough to figure out what. "You know that word?"

Alexis felt Timothy shift. Leaning forward, she had the urge to see his face. But it was lost in the inky shadows, the pitch darkness only overshadowed by a small stream of light that came from the entrance of the cave.

"All done," Tim put her feet back on the ground after wrapping thin bandages around them. "It's going to be difficult to move for a while. Still, you should put your shoes on. It would be more painful without them."

Slowly, she did as she was told. Timothy watched her as she did so. Ever since she mentioned the Decepticons, he seemed a little off, his thoughts suddenly far away.

"Stand up," he told her. He helped her up, and she leaned against him. Before she could take her first step, he picked her up, strong arms holding her. "We should stay together, and we will move faster if I carry you."

"Okay... I am not too much for you, I mean, you must be..."

Briskly, he interrupted, "I am fine, Alexis. Try to rest a little. I am going to see If I can find an exit."

She shifted her eyes and saw nothing. The darkness was now so consuming that shadows were unable to exist. "I can't see anything. How can you?"

"I can see," he assured. With the surety of his footing, she believed him. She tried to focus on the nothingness. Tense and uneasy, she decided she would trust Timothy. Alexis was still unnerved that her usually acute ability to see in the dark was obstructed.

Soon enough, they found the exit, the cave small and deftly navigated by Tim. He put her down and sat alongside Alexis. His arm brushed against hers, his hand gently drifting along the top of her own before dropping away.

More and more he was doing things like that. Hugging her without warning, touching her, holding her hand, comforting her or just being there for her. Tears were building, thankfulness so acute that the emotion was overwhelming. She and Tim sat there like that for several minutes.

"I am so glad you are with me, Timothy," she whispered. "You are always watching out for me, thank you."

He turned to her, a curt nod of the head following. He got up and peered down, barely glancing at her. There was a purpose in the way he stood, firm and alert. "Stay here. I am going to do some recon. Try to figure out where the Decepticons are." He handed her a small pouch, and just like that he took off in a run, leaving her staring after.

Getting up on her feet, slow steps taken, she peered out of the cave. But Timothy was nowhere to be seen, just the waning moon high above, the silence of the landscape and the very soft sound of water dripping nearby.

* * *

His departure left her angry. Not just because Alexis was frightened and scared, but because she thanked him for being with her and not even thirty seconds later he abandoned her to the desolation of the cave. She sat at the edge of it for some time, words forming of what she would say to him when he returned. Her anger, however, dissipated the more time passed.

She wasn't his responsibility. And Alexis knew she had grown far too dependent on him, the offered safety of the Autobot base and the comfort her brother brought, also making her forget about exactly what was taking place on her planet. She had been on her own before, had survived and made it through, she would again.

Opening the pouch Tim had handed her, she found the flask of water, some first aid stuff and a flashlight. Zipping it back up, she placed the strap over her wrist. Alexis shook the flashlight a couple of times until the darkness was cut through with a burst of bright light.

Taking the path Timothy must have, she slowly tried to find her way to the sound of the dripping water. An even slower task as her ripped feet rebelled with each small step. Locating it did not take long. Finding the dripping water, her flashlight found a small pool below. The area of water was not larger than a couple of sheets of paper, but big enough that she could clean herself off a little and perhaps alleviate the smell of sweat on her body as she tried to cool down. The air was thick, oppressive and offensively hot.

Strategically placing the flashlight on the ground, she sat down. Alexis pulled out an extra cloth from the pouch Timothy had handed her. She washed her face, her arms, her neck, under her arms, along her stomach, and then began to work on her back. Alexis stretched back when she was through. What she really wanted to do was take off her shoes, plunge her feet under the shallow water and forget about the stinging sensations that were her feet. Instead, she settled for cupping her hands and taking more water as she splashed it on her face and then her neck.

"Didn't I tell you to stay where you were?"

Hand swiping out from his sudden appearance, her flashlight went teetering. The light crashed off, and she was left in darkness. Air caught in her lungs. She held it. Timothy had frightened her so much that the scream that should have been required died up in the back of her throat. Before she could ask where he was, she was pulled up onto her feet. She heard him breathing, felt his heart pattering against her own chest.

"Do you want to be captured? Do you want Thundercracker to find you? Or perhaps you crave Starscream's attention again?" His words were brutal, his tone heavy with accusation and extreme dissatisfaction.

Alexis tried to break free. He only pulled her back again, his hands catching her flailing ones and placing them along her sides. He was so strong. Timothy's evident muscles strained against every push and tug, but his body didn't give. She stilled herself and looked up, trying to see his face, but everything was just a pitchy void.

She noticed his trembling hands first. Then the feel of his breath against her cheek. And when one of his fingers trailed down her neck, lingering over the droplets of water that were still on her skin, her entire body went rigid. His hands let go of hers, one traveling down the length of her leg before brushing down the fleshy part of her hip. The other moved behind her back, dragging her so tight against his body that she felt every muscle and line, felt the hardened plane of his stomach and the stretch of his powerful legs.

Pulling a little back, his hands continued to glide along. When one landed on the top curve of her left breast, her eyes widened and her heart jumped, thoughts taking order as she tried to pull away.

"Your heart rages," Timothy whispered. His warm breath tickled her ear. His voice so close that she knew his mouth was even closer. She fought to see him but the darkness was absolute.

His hands finally dropped away. But as soon as they did, her legs buckled. Embarrassed and trying to figure out what was happening, she dropped. Timothy caught Alexis and led her down. She felt him come up behind her. Turning her around, his hand pulled hers along as it placed it above his own heart. Alexis was stunned by the violent palpitations.

Timothy spoke, his voice low and throaty, "I am not this." Taking her fingers, he tapped them against his chest as if that explained everything. "But I will do anything, be anything, if it means keeping you close."

"Timothy, I..."

He cut in, as if the sound of his own name was something to be despised. "However, I do not know if I can protect you from what is out there. I do not know if I can continue this, but I won't stop. I do not know if..."

Maybe it was his uncommon rambling, or because all Alexis felt was her hand upon his heart and the way it pounded rapidly against the flesh of her palm. Or perhaps it was because while he spoke she didn't know what he was trying to say even as there was regret in his tone that disturbed and made her uneasy.

But as Alexis turned more toward him, his words died up; a shaky breath sucked in his mouth when her fingers found his face, then his nose and then the shape of his mouth. Leaning in, following where her fingers had just been, she brought her lips against his own.

Perhaps it was just because she needed to.


	20. Disquiet

Alexis stopped when he did nothing. Liquid shimmered in the corner of her eyes. She pulled back, unaware due to the darkness that he had just reached for her. His hands shot right past her elbow, her body reversing motion as she backed away from his unseen, failing grasp.

Still, he felt that light touch of her mouth on his mouth. The enticing pressure faded entirely away, leaving him with the curses that filtered through his head, dark utterances for his freezing up. She was already back on her feet, her head darting back and forth as she searched for the flashlight by moving out her feet. He got up. Moving behind her, he wrapped his arms around her middle. Alexis stiffened at his action but didn't move away.

"Alexis, forgive me. I was unprepared for your impulsive move," he breathed low, the feel of her body resting against his own causing strange palpitations in the tightness of his chest.

"Impulsive?" she echoed. The word was twisted with reproach, taken and turned to mean as an abasement that he never intended.

"I have never done that before," he elaborated, using the truth because he could think of nothing else. He felt foolish and his tongue felt twisted. Thundercracker couldn't think straight. He couldn't find his reason.

With those words, Alexis turned around. His arms loosened to give her room. She was peering up at him, her eyes searching for his face. But he knew she saw nothing, for the darkness they were in was past her human threshold of perception.

"I find that hard to believe," Alexis said, her voice held disbelief.

While Cybertonians could and have made mouth contact, they never used them in the involved manner as Thundercracker had seen humans do. He couldn't tell her that though. Searching for an answer, he chose one that drifted along the delicate lines of the truth.

"I never wanted to before, never focused on such things. But I want to, with you," he told her with utmost sincerity, knowing Alexis' nature would allow her to identify that his words were genuine.

The embarrassment and confusion she was projecting disappeared. "Okay," she whispered; her unexpected permission forced his lungs to contract as a breath that he didn't need caught. His fingers curled around her arms. Her chin lifted.

TC was grateful that she couldn't see his face, and relieved that she couldn't see the confusion. While he wasn't averse to touching her as before, he didn't exactly know how to go about it. Tilting his head down, he memorized where her mouth was and closed his eyes like he had seen her do before bending further forward. He pressed his mouth down on hers, mimicking her previous actions. He took another step closer; his movement made their mouths break apart as he repositioned himself. With her mouth slightly parted, a strange incomprehensible urge pushed his actions. His tongue found its way into her mouth, an oddity that he nearly cursed himself yet again at until suddenly her own followed his, the awkwardness from his action withdrawing as his stomach fell away. The movement of their mouths that met and shifted, made his pseudo heart beat harshly against his rib age.

Thundercracker wanted to devour her.

The inclination was a consuming one. He never wanted to leave her. Never wanted her to know who he was, or what he was about. Not if it meant that the warmth of their closeness would end. Not if it meant this intimacy she could experience with him would be replaced by betrayal and hatred. If she wanted Timothy, she could have Timothy. He didn't want to return to the retched emptiness that had filled his spark before he met her. An emptiness he never knew existed until his feelings for the human had begun to grow.

He cared for her. And it wasn't because how close her body was now pressed to his, or the way her mouth made his senses go haywire. But because his curiosity and respect for the human had evolved and changed into genuine affection that was so unfamiliar and unsettling due to its unprecedented quality that TC could not properly compare it to anything else for a better analysis. Instead, he had to settle for the fact that what he felt had been there for some time and was entirely alien to him.

But it was something he was regrettably going to have to put on hold. Still connected to his mech form, he was aware of where the Decepticons forces were being led and diverted to. It was when Starscream gave them a moment of reprieve before flying off on is own that he knew no matter how small the chances were that they were found that there still might be a chance. If he could keep Alexis safe, he would.

Forcing himself to pull away, his fingers drew a path on the softness of her cheek. He held to her arm as he made his way to the flashlight. Grabbing it, he handed it to Alexis.

"I heard something," he explained as he lied. He deplored deceiving her, but the resolution of keeping her was too important to Thundercracker that he ignored the revulsion he felt from his untruths. "We should move to another location, in case they search this area again."

She nodded her head, and he moved his hand down her arm to connect with his own. Exiting the cave, she turned off the flashlight. He walked out into the dark and led them away from Starscream's aerial scan. Thundercracker kept his pace slow, mindful of Alexis' damaged feet.

* * *

Finding a road, the two followed a path parallel to it, diverting when the road proved too open. Alexis was tired. He perceived that in her heavy lids and the lethargic manner in which she took her steps. She was already tired when they had returned from the picnic, and it was fear that propelled her when they were escaping the Decepticon forces. He was impressed that she managed as far as she did, impressed further that she could continue after the short rest in the cave. They had been walking most of the night and without the motorcycle, their journey was restrained. Out of the corner of his view, he saw that she was limping again, something she managed to hide when he looked directly at her. She was in pain but didn't want him to know.

Leading her down a small hillside, they wandered into a residential district. He scanned the homes and picked one near the edge, a large two-story house with open windows on both levels that could provide a clear view of outside. Advancing to the back porch, he motioned for Alexis to stand aside. Just when he was ready to break the door open with his shoulder, Alexis bent down, hands extending to rest on a small ceramic cat. She picked it up and turned it upside down before pinching a small tab with her finger. A small compartment slid open with a key revealed.

"Will this work?" she asked, pleased with herself.

"How did you know about that?"

"I bought one of these for my Grandmother." She smiled. "Hers was a black cat though, and it held a garage remote, not a key, but..." she handed him the key, shakily standing back to her feet as she yawned loudly.

He twisted the key in the archaic lock and opened the door. Light from the new day slid through the doorway, cutting through the perpetual darkness of the large home. All the heavy drapes were drawn, creating a somber atmosphere. The two identified quick exit points as he had taught her to do and then searched for food. They only found dusty bottles of water and a box of crackers but Alexis was pleased.

They ascended the stairs and searched for a place to rest. Knowing how particular Alexis was as far as where she slept, especially in someone else's home, no matter how abandoned, she chose what she believed was a guest room. She sat on a narrow bed and fell back against the pillow, coughing when unseen dust unsettled from her movement. Not seeming to care, she calmed, curled to the side and fell asleep.

Regrettably, Thundercracker was forced to nudge her back awake. "Alexis, we should look at your feet," he recommended.

Alexis seemed to consider it, but shook her head. "I can." Her actions were drawn out as she slowly sat back up. He handed her the small medical kit he had found and the flashlight. She disappeared inside the bathroom.

By the time she was through, he had procured a new pair of shoes and a pair of clean socks for her. Motioning her toward the bed, she sat down, rolled the socks carefully over her rebandaged feet and then tried on the shoes. She was astonished that they fit.

"You don't have to wear them while you rest, I am sure..."

She shook her head. "No, I won't be caught without shoes again. I paid for it once, I won't again. It's not so bad, just hurts when I walk..." she smiled, trying to distract him from her obvious pain. However, the resounding cringes that followed every time she moved, betrayed her discomfort.

Lying back on the bed, she sighed heavily. "I'm so tired, Tim. I think I could sleep the sleep of the dead. But I can't stop thinking, can't stop worrying and wondering, and I feel such, such fear..." she shivered. "I feel as if something dreadful is about to happen, and that nothing you or I can do will stop it from happening."

"You have been up too long. You will feel better after you have rested."

She nodded her head. Shifting to the side, she moved the pillow back before sitting upright once more as she reached for a book on the table stand.

"Sometimes when such coincidences happen, it almost worries me, but today... I am just grateful." She hugged the small Bible tight before flipping through some pages. Reading a couple of passages out loud, her lack of stamina caught up with Alexis as her lids fell for the last time, sleep taking her as she drifted. The book fell out of her lax hand, thudding on the floor below. He picked it up and placed it back on the night stand.

Preparing to sleep on the floor, he grabbed the second pillow on the bed. Alexis would have usually handed him a sheet or bedspread, but he really had no need for either. Thundercracker never slept anyway only kept watch.

"Timothy?"

Her small voice caught him unaware. Her eyes were open again, they hovered on the pillow he had just picked up.

"You can sleep with me if you want," she whispered. "I would feel better if I could see you. I just... I just..." She scooted closer over to the right of the small bed and made room.

The morning was full upon them. Light pushed through a gap in the curtains and illuminated the room in small patches, making an ambiance of solitude and tranquility.

Thundercracker sat on the edge of the bed. Alexis leaned over, took the pillow from his hand and put it next to hers. "Goodnight... good-morning, Tim," she yawned, scooted back to her side of the bed and was asleep in moments.

Careful to give her room, he edged closer to the left side and turned his back to her, mindfully aware of the female presence that was less than an arm-stretch away.

* * *

There was nothing he could do. Nowhere he could hide her. The inevitability of them being found was undeniable. As Thundercracker, he could have easily whisked her away to safety. As Timothy, he was defenseless and powerless.

Every day when he woke up with the two of them still free, he vowed he would tell her the truth of who he was. Three days had gone by, and he had been unable.

He thought of just grabbing her as Thundercracker, but his movements were being precisely tracked as they always were during their missions. He didn't give a frag about the Autobots. But TC did mind that the fools had led Starscream close enough to Alexis that the Seeker became aware of her presence.

Starscream never asked Thundercracker how she was still alive. He hadn't asked Thundercracker anything, an anomaly that was worrisome. But it was obvious that Starscream was tracking more than just Autobots now with a persistence that TC once admired but now only cursed.

He was going to tell her, going to explain things to her while there was still the opportunity. Alexis was talking to him. Questions being asked as she did when she needed to be distracted. Her words continually flowed as she kept their conversation going. They hadn't been able to travel far with Alexis' injury, and what leeway they had made was not as far as Thundercracker had hoped for. It was night now and at Alexis' insistence, they continued a little longer. She was full of energy because she had rested well that day.

"Maybe someone on the base gave away our position." Alexis spoke up again as she thought things through. "Maybe we were betrayed."

TC lifted his brows, shifting his gaze a little to watch Alexis walk along beside him. "Do you always assume those around you are so fallible?"

She huffed, bit her lip and frowned. "I was captured and made a slave because of a human working for the Decepticons, so I do know it's possible. People aren't always what they seem. It's hard to trust people nowadays."

Thundercracker took a moment before answering, "You trust me," he reminded her. Not that she had ever said it out loud, but it was obvious from the way she treated and respected him. His words came out boastful and proud until he reminded himself how precarious that trust was becoming, and how little he deserved it.

"Most the times," she told him.

That had him halting in his tracks.

"Most the times?" he echoed.

She shrugged her shoulders. Alexis' hand reached out to brush against a nearby tree before lifting up and grabbing hold of some leaves. "I don't know. I mean I have known you for months, and yet I still don't know as much about you as I should. Like what is your favorite color? Your favorite movie? Favorite food? Have you ever been in love? Ever killed anyone? Do you look more like your mom or dad, and are they still alive? What about..."

He interrupted her babbling. "Blue. This Gun for Hire, 1942. Lemons. Yes. Yes. Neither, no."

Alexis stopped abruptly and blocked him. "Timothy, have you ever lied to me?"

His shoulders pinched and his spine stretched. He kept his voice nominal as he spoke, "Why would you ask that?"

She smiled and the tension that had been working through his muscles eased away. She was not asking what he thought.

Alexis chuckled. "Lemons? Really?" She continued forward. "Sorry about your parents," she added with her tone filled with sympathy.

He shook his head. "Don't be. I never knew them."

Several minutes passed before she spoke again. But when she did, her tone was serious.

"How many?"

"How many what?"

"People killed?"

She didn't look at him when she asked only focused on the patches of dirt and grass that lined their path.

"Only as many as I had to in the line of duty. "

Again, she didn't say anything, just shifted a little while placing her hands behind her head as she stared up at the stars.

She spoke softly, her words contemplative and reflective, "I've never seen the sky as much as I have since the Decepticons invaded. They don't hold the sense of wonder as they once did." She frowned. "I almost wish I could go back to believing that we were the only ones in the galaxy, it may be presumptuous and small minded, but it wasn't so complicated. We humans have enough complications don't you think? I mean... The stars aren't even bright anymore. When did our stars become so dull, Tim?" she wanted to know.

Thundercracker had no answer for that that he was willing to share. She was right. Life was complicated. And sometimes knowing certain truths only made things worse. Better to be ignorant. Better not to know.


	21. Fear

Things had once again changed between the two, this time not for the better. Ever since the night they spent in that large two-story home where they shared a bed, Tim had become different. It wasn't much at first, just a precaution and concern here until he wouldn't let her out of his sight, a dominating but noticeable anxiety directing his actions. She had never seen him so anxious. Alexis had never really seen him anxious at all. And now with him acting as such, her own terrors and fears multiplied and divided as they became a life all their own. His nearness only exasperated her increasingly fragile perception on things.

She had felt uneasy before, during the Decepticon invasion, when she was separated from her brother, when she was taken as a slave, even when she was given her freedom. But the feeling she had now was malignant and twisted, wrapping around her like a cloak that held dark, ominous magic.

Something was going to happen. Something not good. And every morning she woke up that thought would announce itself once more, weighing down her outlook as she dreaded each day. Timothy knew something he wasn't telling her. Alexis would catch him looking at her, anguish in those gray eyes of his that darkened when he opened his mouth and made a motion to speak.

But as she waited for him to say something, he changed his mind. And then a perceptible harshness lined his jaw, and he never tried again. But that didn't make her stop thinking about it, didn't stop her from wanting to know.

"Whatever it is, Timothy, I want to know."

Only a couple of days had passed since the night the two spent in that two-story home, but the hours in between passed dreadfully slow. She wouldn't have been so on edge if Tim wasn't, and whatever he was keeping from her was creating a gap between the two that made her question where she really stood with him.

They did most of their walking at night now, sleeping during the day in whatever covered place they could find. Her schedule now reversed, she was accustomed to dark roads and bright moons, familiar with the colder weather and the shadows that stretched and expanded. Alexis had been staring at his booted feet for some time. She counted each silent step he took as she followed his light tread.

Her feet no longer hurt as they did, but they still protested to all the movement. Their pace wasn't exactly one of speed, but it was enough to feel.

He didn't stop, didn't look over his shoulder at her or give her an indication that he even heard her. Her mouth twisted, and she fought between holding back the tears of affront and the anger that twisted her guts into a state of rebellion.

How could she like him, care for him, and of late, not even stand him? He was now totally alien to her. And he still had the discomforting, troublesome quality of domination that tried to force her into some sort of submission to his commands. Even if he was trying to keep her safe, or protected, his way of suddenly going about it was wearing her down.

But she couldn't take any more of it, couldn't stand it any longer. Stopping, gravel and dirt crunching loudly under her rubber soled feet, she shrieked out into the night. Her frustration, anger and terror spilled into the short burst while signaling that she had had enough.

That got his attention. He turned, his head angling heavily onto his left shoulder before he slowly took long strides toward her. Timothy stared at her, his eyes calculating and unfamiliar. For the first time since she had met him, Alexis felt afraid of him. Distracted by the fear, she didn't notice when he grabbed onto her arm, but did when his fingers curled tight, pinching around her flesh and twisting hard.

"Let go!" she demanded, her voice coming out strained as it warbled.

He didn't.

She shifted, twisted, trying to get out of his hold. He only latched on more firmly, tugging on her arm hard until she could only let out a tormented yelp.

He covered her mouth with his hand, drawing closer as he spoke, "Silence, speak no further. You are threatening your own safety."

Alexis stilled and stared and Timothy. The fear bundled around her suddenly raw nerves as she tried to blink away the stranger. How could he become so unfamiliar in such a short time? She didn't know, but knew she couldn't stand the way he looked at her, or deal with the changes of his that had suddenly become so noticeable that he could have been another person. But she hadn't seen her Timothy since the night she talked to him of the stars.

"Please, Timothy. Please, let go," she whimpered.

He blinked and in that small action it was as if the familiarity flowed back in his eyes. He dropped his hands off her arm and mouth and stepped back. He appeared taken aback and then ashamed when she began to rub on her arm.

"I didn't mean to. That is, that wasn't me. You see..." And again, his words stopped.

Her mouth quivered, and she was suddenly blinded by tears. Wiping them off, she choked on the tightness in her throat. He did it again, bringing that something obviously important up only to swallow back his words.

"How can you, not be you? Who are you then? Why do you act like this?"

"Alexis, I..." he had been looking away from her, but his eyes shot back up. He straightened. Whatever debate he had gone through was filed away. "I can't tell you. I don't want to tell you. Just trust me, Alexis. Believe in me like you have, and I will make sure..."

"Trust you?" Alexis scoffed with disbelief from the suggestion. "These last couple of days I don't even know who I am traveling with! And you hurt me. You wouldn't let go... you... I..."

He made a motion to move toward her. Instinctively, she stepped back.

"Do you have some sort of... of a problem you haven't told me of? I've never seen you act like this. Where do you go when you become so distant? Why do you treat me so... so... strangely and indifferently? I thought... I mean... you have acted like this before, but never so bad, and never so long. I just don't know what I am supposed to think. I thought, I thought you..." Alexis couldn't say it because she didn't know anymore. Did he care for her?

But it didn't matter, not now. And she didn't want to deal with such things, or be bombarded by more fears than the ones that could be flying overhead at any moment. The instability of her friend was creating tension and paranoia that Alexis just didn't have room for.

So when she spoke with her voice shaking and trembling, she couldn't look at him, her eyes landing back on those booted feet of his that she made sure didn't move any closer.

"I don't know what to do with you, Timothy."

"I just had things to take care off, things that needed to be done." She could almost see him going over the last couple days as if catching up on all that had transpired of late. He frowned. "I never meant for all this to happen. I never meant for you to be hurt."

She frowned at that, not understanding in the least. Things to do? He never left her side. He had been with her since the attack by the Decepticons and had not parted since.

Alexis shook her head, mouth pushed into a tight frown. "That doesn't make sense. And it doesn't explain why you have been so strange these past days."

As if she caught him in a revelation he had not wanted her to find out, Timothy jerked back and balled his fists, his eyes once more diverting away from her gaze. He suddenly looked tired, weary even, and the sudden vulnerability made her uncertain.

It took him a moment to speak, but when he did his voice was low but determined "I won't leave you again... I won't... become distant again," he corrected. "Forget the last couple days and let us move forward."

"You frightened me."

"I know."

"You still scare me."

He shook his head.

Alexis sighed with discontent. "I don't think we are going to have much time left together, Timothy. And I don't want my last moments of you to ones of mistrust and fear."

"What are you saying?" he asked with astonishment, her words of predication causing him unease.

"I don't know. It's just what I feel. I don't want to, but there it is."

"I won't let you..."

"But you can't stop it, Timothy. Without some miracle, I know the Decepticons are going to eventually find us. But for now, why don't we do what we were and try to at least try...

"Alexis..." he approached slowly, giving her the ability to stop him if she chose. The fear was gone, and the tension she had felt over the last couple of days disappeared. Leaning into Tim, she slowly wrapped her arms about him. Her mind going over what he had said as she tried to make sense out of Timothy and the last couple days.

* * *

It only took a week of Timothy acting as he was supposed to that Alexis forgot about the couple of days of hell she had shared with him. No longer boggled by his remoteness and coldness, she easily settled back into the camaraderie she felt for him.

It was just the tension of being hunted, the uneasiness of the possibility of being found. He didn't mean to hurt and scare her, he just had a lot on his mind. And trying to protect her as he led them away, must have overwhelmed. Not that that justified his actions, but everyone felt strain in different ways. And Timothy did not act in that frightening manner again.

She stopped worrying about the future, started to force positives back into her mind and believe that everything would work out somehow. That her brother was okay, that humanity would make it and that everything, one way or another, was going to be just fine.

Waking, she found herself alone. Not yet dark, she was little concerned by Timothy's absence. He would disappear here and there but always return with food or water or some other essential item that she would add to the backpack she had taken.

Alexis walked to a nearby pond and got down on her knees. Pushing her hands together, she cupped some of the water in her hands and drank slowly.

Something cracked and broke nearby, a sound echoing out that made her skin crawl. And when trees started to part, and dust started to shift and move, all Alexis could do was watch the inevitable.

And as a familiar figure walked forward, the bright sun overhead making the metal glint blindingly, she found enough of her mind to act.

Jumping to her feet and turning on her heels, she started to run. Alexis could feel his nearness and the vibrations from every step he took as he got closer. Just when she convinced herself she was going to get away, the sound of crashing water thundered in her ear drums. She was caught in waves of liquid blue that came out of nowhere. The water captured her and sent her spiraling.

By the time the water subsided, and she coughed enough of the liquid out to breathe, darkness clouded her eyes as a dominating figure blocked the light from above.

What she had felt when Timothy was not himself was not fear. No, that was nothing. But what she felt now most certainly was.

Starscream found them.


End file.
